Left in the Dark
by EmmOnasi
Summary: Years after Revan has left to regions un-known Carth Onasi struggles to keep living his life as a single parent raising their daughter. Will they ever find the missing peice to their family?
1. Waiting on promises

Carth:

The weary Admiral sank down onto his bed with an exhausted groan ignoring the fact that he was still wearing his uniform.

Admiral Carth Onasi 'Republic war hero', 'praised warrior' 'a public celebrity' Carth had heard all of it time and time again it was all old to him even when it was new.

Carth had been just like any other soldier that is up until nearly five years ago when life was simple, made sense and sure as hell hadn't involved so much paper work. He flexed his fingers which were cramped from doing paperwork all after-noon and let another groan escape his lips. "Things were so much easier" he whispered up to the ceiling "before…"

Before he met that damned smuggler on the Endar Spire so many years ago and his life got turned inside- out upside down and just so complicated, he asked himself angrily and rolled over onto his side.

The bed creaked in response, the bed was too large considering the fact that he was the only one who used it and too cold for that same reason.

"No." He said to himself grimly "Not this again."

He pushed his thoughts aside and sat up to yank off his boots then the rest of his clothes and replaced them with a pair of sleep pants and an over-sized T-shirt.

His attention was brought back once again to the empty bed as he shivered slipping in between the chilled sheets and closed his eyes tightly hoping sleep would come to him quickly for once but of course, he wasn't that lucky.

That 'smuggler' he mused, going back to his earlier thoughts and shook his head against his pillow "things were easier for the both of us back then, eh?" he said into the darkness.

That 'smuggler' who turned out to be a jedi then turns out that jedi was an ex-dark Lord of the Sith brainwashed into believing all this garbage the jedi council had rammed down her throat and made her their 'puppet' as some would put it.

He sighed, and who also turned out to be the other half of my broken soul he finished then looked over to the opposite side of the bed right where Scarrlet Veil belonged.

He never thought of her as 'Revan' anymore since she left the title behind her on the Star Forge when they destroyed it with her old apprentice Darth Malak already dead within.

Even then things were easier he admitted to himself, no matter how bad things would get he could always just reach out for Scarrlet and they would hold each other until things seemed better. But he let her go (physically, he doubted he would ever let her go emotionally ) to regions un-known to 'right' what had been wronged he guessed, he never got a real answer out of her as to why she had to go.

He remembered the last day they had together and from what he recalled he knew that something was not right as she acted more and more distant from the place she was. He remembered the next morning most of all, he woke up with a data-pad on her pillow the wedding ring he had given to her on their wedding day.

"Couldn't even say good-bye to my face?" he asked as if she were there and he felt the scab over the wound begin to peel again and he felt the same hurt he did as he scrolled through Scarrlet's message holding her ring in between his fingers and tears stinging his eyes.

He rolled over his hand resting on Scarrlet's pillow and his eyes shimmered as they fought off more tears.

He was close to sleep until her heard his door open he sat up and rubbed his face then yawned "hmm?" he asked into the darkness.

"Daddy?" the sweet little voice responded and Carth leaned over to turn on the lamp on his side table, wincing at the bright light "I'm right here, Princess." He assured and gave her a sweet smile.

There standing in his door-way holding a doll in her little hand was a tiny four-year-old girl with jet black, shoulder length hair and deep brown eyes, his eyes.

"I thought I just put you to bed, Adalia." He looked at his daughter she looks so much like her mother that it hurts, he thought to himself.

The child shuffled over to his bed-side and touched her soft, little hand to his large rough one and gently stroked his skin with her thumb. It amazed him how easily she picked up on things and he smiled at the fact that she was like Scarrlet in more than just one way.

"You forgot to tell me my good-night story." She said quietly.

"Oh, did I?" He asked and lifted his hand to pat the empty space in the middle of the bed, motioning for her to come up by him. She scooted up onto the bed and climbed over him then finally settled down underneath the blankets and Carth leaned over to turn the light off then snuggled up next to his her.

"Tell me the one about the King and Queen, Daddy." Adalia demanded tucking her head under his chin.

"Hmm. My favorite story." Carth whispered as Adalia poked absently at a hole in his T-shirt.

"Once upon a time" he began the story "there was a king who had a beautiful wife and a precious son and he loved them very dearly. But one day it was time for the king to go to war against the bad people who were trying to destroy his world and all of the people in it, including his family so he fought for all of them proudly."

Adalia looked up at him and yawned he smiled then leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

"The king had fought long and hard for his people" Carth continued "and he and his soldiers were close to winning the battle. But the king was betrayed by his friend and they paid greatly for the man's betrayal. The palace had been attacked and the king wasn't there in time to rescue the Queen and the Prince… The Prince was taken and held as a hostage and the Queen had passed away from the enemy's fire..."

"Many years had passed and the king had kept on fighting for the people not only of his planet but many other planets alike. One day he had met a powerful woman who was the strongest of fighters and the bravest of the brave she and the king had become very good friends as they fought together in the war and over time they had fallen in love even though they were not meant to love each other. The woman was strong enough to destroy the evil across the galaxy helping people along the way and acquiring a few very good friends along in their adventures. Once the woman, with the help of her friends, killed the source of the evil the galaxy was a better place."

"The woman had agreed that she would become the King's wife and the king was so happy, he had forgotten how nice it felt to be happy, and he promised to love his new Queen forever and ever and she promised the same in return. After a few months they had lived out that promise and the Queen and King had a Daughter together the perfect Princess, the King and Queen loved the Princess more than anything in the galaxy but the Queen had to go back to war even though she didn't want to… She did it for her husband and her beloved daughter promising she would one day return."

Adalia was fast asleep and Carth held her sleeping body against his chest, stroking her soft hair. "She did it for you Adalia… For you and me, Princess." He whispered quietly "she will be back here with us one day, she promised…"

He smiled at the ceiling painfully "just waiting for you to keep that promise now." He whispered and held his daughter until he fell asleep himself.

The next morning:

Carth had been jerked awake by a morning chill to see the blankets were stolen from him through the night he looked at Adalia to see the little girl had cocooned herself in the white sheets and her doll resting on his chest. "Cover hog" he chuckled to himself and got up shaking off the doll to go to the refresher.

He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror and just stood there staring at the man who eyed him back as if he was expecting him to flinch away.

The man that stared back at him looked tired, even though he got to sleep in an extra hour on his day off of work and he had a light case of crow's feet and smile lines that decorated his handsome face.

His fingers raked through his hair which had a small hint of gray at his temples that mixed well with his brown hair. Then his fingers brushed over the stuble on his chin which hid the two ugly scars that he had achieved from the bombing on Telos.

He stepped into the shower shaking off the bad thoughts in the process.

Adalia:

Her bright blue eyes shimmered as she laughed, she has a pretty laugh, Adalia thought to herself, everything about this woman was beautiful.

She had dark hair, just like hers, and her skin was almost glowing due to her light skin tone. Adalia could see herself reach out to press her tiny fingers against the woman's chin, the woman smiled at her and held Adalia's hand against her deep red lips, still smiling.

She could hear her Father in the back-ground saying something but she couldn't make much sense out of his words as he stepped into view, but she could only focus on the beautiful woman as she cooed to her sweetly. "Adalia." The woman whispered quietly, even her voice was beautiful "Adalia" she crooned again and stroked her cheek tenderly.

Then as quickly as the dream came to her it was gone, she opened her eyes to her father's empty room with a frown on her face.

She had the same dream every once in a while which had always brought back the same question, who was the beautiful woman who had once held her close?

She was always in her mind and the need to see her again felt unbearable, she didn't know who the woman was but every time she would see her in her dreams she felt safe and loved in her gentle hold.

"They're just dreams, Addie," she remembered her father telling her once when she had awoken from a very vivid nightmare with a loud scream "they are not real!" He told her firmly, holding her close to him.

"But-it was- REAL, D-daddy!" She wailed in between sobs and buried her head against his chest, she had dreamt of the woman, as she usually would, but she wasn't kind and beautiful like she always was. She was actually the complete opposite, she remembered in her dream that she was hurting people, a lot of people…

She sat up, the sheets tangled around her body, she didn't like the woman when she was so full of anger, she liked the nice dreams about the beautiful woman who had once held her close…

She crawled out of Carths' large bed, taking her doll with her, and walked back to her room wondering what Daddy was going to make for breakfast.

Carth:

Carth stood in his kitchen washing up the dishes from dinner while he watched Adalia talk excitedly with Mission, who came to visit for the day before she left Cidatel again to return to Kashyyk.

She sat on the floor with Adalia in her lap while they flipped through one of her picture books, the one that was full of pictures of how Telos was before it was attacked.

Carth smiled down at them as he walked into the room and sat down in his chair with a cup of juma juice in hand, he had always considered Mission as his daughter even though she sure as hell didn't look like a kid anymore… She was nearly nine-teen now and reached his chin in height but, her smart mouth was never out grown. And she was obviously gorgeous… He remembered having to flash the blaster in his holster a few times at the cantina to scare off the men who would ogle her while they had dinner.

"Daddy told me that these were his favorite kinds of flowers." Adalia told Mission, pointing to the Telosian lilacs in the book, Mission smiled gently at the scarlet colored plant knowing why they were Carths' favorite.

He continued to watch them so Mission had decided to just let it go "Mhmm. Very pretty." She mused as Adalia continued through the book.

Carth was stressed, and Mission wasn't oblivious to that fact, her brow furrowed because she knew that there was nothing she could do to help him out. It would be harder to stay in close contact since she was leaving in a few hours to go back to Kashyyk where Zaalabar was, of course she loved Carth and Adalia but she could only take so much of Cidatel station.

After Carth had put Adalia to bed and her and Mission said their good-bye's he sank back down into his chair to face Mission who was sitting on the couch across from him with a concerned expression on her face.

"C'mon, Mish," he gave her a lazy smile "don't you worry about this old geezer."

"Carth," she complained worriedly.

She was the only person who called her Carth now-a-days and he loved the sound of it, he was pretty sick of 'Admiral Onasi'.

"I'm worried about her, Carth…" She sighed turning her head towards the freshly dented wall in the kitchen.

At dinner Carth had kept on badgering Adalia to eat her vegetables when that temper of hers set off and collided with his.

"Adalia, just eat them" he had demanded "or, no dessert."

"No, no, no, no, nooo!" She cried hitting the table with her tiny fists.

She never got that angry, Carth thought to himself, she had never gotten upset like that before. When Adalia had let go of all of her anger the bowl of vegetables in front of her went soaring off of the table and across the room without any one touching it, to hit the wall with a loud crash.

Mission and Carth froze and stared wide eyed at the four-year-old who's temper tantrum had far exceeded what they could have imagined.

Adalias' hands flew to her mouth as she saw what she had done, she couldn't have possibly understood but nonetheless she began to cry, loudly. "S-s-sorry," she wailed brokenly "D-daddy-y!" Carth immediately rushed over to her and held her trying to soothe her, whispering gently and kissing her face.

""It's okay, Princess" he said rocking her "s'okay." He and Mission had exchanged glances before she got up to go find a broom.

"Look" Mission sighed "I know how rough things are for ya, Carth. Believe me I do but-"

"But, what?" he asked, his head slumped back and his eyes slid to a close "I never claimed that my life was perfect."

"Hey, don't you get grumpy with me, Mister!" She snapped "All I wanna do is help and I can see that there isn't anything I can do!"

"No," he responded "there isn't."

He looked up to see her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at him, he burst out laughing "I'm joking! Geeze, lighten up, kid."

She rolled her eyes "Ha-ha." She snorted "You've got a pretty grim sense of humor old man."

"Mhmm." He mumbled "Comes with age."

She was quiet for a few minutes until "Maybe-maybe if you talk to Bastila-"

"No." Carth snapped and sat on the edge of his seat, staring Mission in the eye "I am not sending my daughter to a bunch of 'jedi'."

Mission went quiet again.

He had always known that Adalia was a force sensitive he just never wanted to deal with her 'condition' alone (and he would never send her to some enclave with a bunch of jedi attempting to re-build 'order' ). He sneered at himself for his choice of words, talking like the kid has a disease, he thought to himself.

"I'm sorry." He said gently after a few minutes "I-I just- I can't lose her too…" Carth sighed quietly and buried his face in his hands.

"S'okay." She said quietly.

Then they were both silent for what seemed like an eternity.

"I miss her too, Carth." She said walking over to sit on the arm of his chair and rest her hand on the middle of his back.

He nodded against his palms "It's getting late. You don't want to miss your flight, do you?" Carth sat up and gave Missions knee a pat.

"Yeah." She mumbled getting up and faced him extending her arms wide apart "Not gonna hug myself, am I?"

Carth chuckled and stood up to give Mission a big-Wookie hug, picking her up off the ground "Don't let that mouth of yours get you in trouble… Again."

"Me?" She said sarcastically "Getting my-self in trouble? Oh, please!" She laughed and Carth stood her back up onto her feet. "Don't let that kid give you anymore gray hairs, Buddy." She playfully punched his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm sure she's the only one giving them to me!" He chuckled and walked with her across the room his arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"I'll see you soon, Carth." Mission said with a smile.

"Soon." He repeated and watched as she walked away from his apartment.

The TSF officer that guarded his home watched after her too and looked back at Carth as if to say 'nice catch' and Carth glared at him and reflexively reached for his blaster realizing he didn't have it on him. The officer flinched away and pretended to be busy with his communicator watch.

Carth closed his door behind him, locked it and walked back to his bed-room in silence, he crawled under the chilled covers of his over-sized bed dressed in only his sleep pants.

His mind drifted back to dinner, what was he going to do? He frowned up at the ceiling. Scarrlet would know what to do, he thought, "Dammit, woman." He groaned "Couldn't even leave me an instruction manual?" He rolled over and drifted off to sleep.


	2. A cry for help

This chapter is dedicated to Kari: My first reviewer! Enjoy

Also: please review and let me know if you like my story\stories so I can keep making them without feeling like a Douche who doesn't know she sucks… Thank you!..

Carth:

He stared out the window of his office absently tapping his pen against his desk, a nervous habit, he supposed.

His desks' comm buzzed and he heard his secretary, Zerre inform "Admiral, your daughter has arrived from school."

"Thank you, Zerre. Send her in please." He responded automatically.

He watched Adalia skip into his office with her back-pack on and smiled as her hair bounced in her two pig-tails "Hi, Daddy!" She smiled.

Carth patted his thigh and she crawled up onto his lap.

"Hey, Princess. How was school?" He asked.

"Boring." She smiled at him then reached to pull off her back-pack.

He chuckled "what't'cha got there?" He asked as she pulled out papers from her bag.

"I made pictures today." She handed them to him "Do you like it?"

Carth almost gasped but he stopped himself, he stared at the picture then his daughter "Who-who is this?" He pointed to the black haired woman holding two lightsabers in the drawing, a green saber and one blue to be exact…

She shrugged her shoulders "I don't know who she is." She admitted and jumped off of Carths' lap to skip across the room to look into the fish tank full of exotic fish and tapped at the glass.

Carth flipped through the drawings, the woman re appearing in each of them and then the last one was the one that caught his attention most of all… It was a black cloaked person with, his eyes widened, a red mask and glowing red lightsaber..

He looked over at his daughter "Are you sure, Adalia?" His voice was just barely above a whisper "You-you don't know who this person is?"

She shook her head "Nope." She said "I only see her when I dream." She looked at him innocently.

He shoved the pictures back into her bag then stood up slinging it over his shoulder. "C'mon," he told her, reaching for her hand.

She looked at him a bit confused "Daddy, what's wrong?" She took his hand.

"Nothing. Everything is fine, Sweetie." They walked out to the lobby and said to Zerre who was sitting at her desk. "Cancel my later appointments."

"Are-are you sure, Sir?" She looked at him with her bright green eyes, confused "Since when do you turn in early?"

"When I need to, goodbye, Zerre." He said impatiently.

"Wait, wait a second!" She jumped up from her seat and stood in front of him. "I just, I wanted to…" She trailed off twirling her blonde hair around one finger and looked down at Carths' boots.

Carth looked at her a bit irritated now. "What is it, Zerre?"

"I just thought that maybe-maybe you wanted to go and get a drink or have dinner. You know, some time when you aren't busy." She gave him a small smile, looking up from under her lashes.

"No." He said and he saw the hurt look on her face "I'm sorry it's just that…" He smiled slightly and gestured to Adalia who was clinging to his arm "I've got a lot on my plate." He was a bit tired of her attempts but no matter how many times he would shoot her down she came back up. She was a good person but he couldn't get it through the young girls' mind that he wasn't interested.

"No, it's alright." Her shoulders slumped and she bit down on her lip "I'll-I can finish up the papers for the Z-K-9925 act for you." She offered.

"That would be great, Zerre. Thank you." He told her as he walked with Adalia out into the hall.

"Daddy?" She asked and poked his knee while they walked.

"Yes, Princess?" he asked still not giving anything a hundred percent of his attention.

"Why does Zerre always want to buy you food?" She asked.

He laughed and tousled her hair with his free hand. "Don't know, Gorgeous."

She nodded "Maybe she just thinks you look hungry." She suggested.

He laughed again "Maybe, Princess, maybe."

"I just-I don't know what to do, Jolee." Carth was pacing in his room talking to Jolee Bindo over the communicator "I know she 'sees' things in her dreams…"

"Sound familiar to ya, Sonny?" He asked "Now hold still, boy! Pacin' around aint gonna do anything besides make me go cross-eyed."

"There isn't anything you can do?" He demanded raking his hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry. I'm no jedi Master, I don't know how to help her, I wish I did but I don't." He shrugged. "But I'm not the only jedi you know, now am I?"

"Dammit." He groaned and slumped down onto his bed "You've been talking with Mission, haven't you?"

"Actually, yes. But she did have a good point." He rolled his eyes at Caths' glare. "I'm not sayin' you have to send Adalia packing. It wouldn't be a bad idea to just talk to Bastila though."

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, he knew that he was going to have no choice.

"I don't think she can keep goin' on like this, by the sounds of it she'll master training by the time she's ten."

"She's not doing any training." He snapped "We're-we just need to get through these-these 'visions' and try to figure some things out."

"Sonny, be in denial all you want but I think we both know what would be better for her. Bahh, don't listen to an old mans' 'wisdom'." He waved his hand "You won't listen anyways. Now go swallow your pride and talk with 'Master Shann', boy."

He rubbed the back of his neck "Thank you, Jolee." He knew how this was going to turn out so he decided to skip to the end…

That caught Jolee by surprise, these past few years had really worn him down and it was a little sad to see. "Sure thing, Sonny."

The communicator went silent and Jolee disappeared from view.

He groaned and fell onto his back slinging his arm over his eyes. "Time to swallow my pride, eh?" He said to the ceiling "That's a new one."

Adalia:

She absently poked at her food as she sat with her Father at the dinner table while he was bent over a pile of files he had brought home from work and occasionally would take a random piece of food from his plate and pop it into his mouth.

She turned her head to the dent in the wall she made a few days ago "Daddy?" She asked.

"Hmm?" He asked without lifting his head.

"Am I a bad person?" She asked with a very serious look on her face.

Carth dropped his fork and stared wide eyed at her his mouth gapping open. "How could you ask something like that?"

She looked at him with a shrug then went back to staring at the dent. "When I do the 'bad' things I-I break everything and make you sad, Daddy…" She whispered "Then I feel sad because I make you upset."

"Hey, you listen to me." He said firmly and grabbed her shoulders so that she would face him "You have special ability's and that does not make you a bad person. You should be proud of what you can do, things may happen that you don't have any power over but I am going to help you control these things, okay?" He shook her gently when she didn't answer. "Okay?" He repeated

She nodded and a few tears fell from her eyes. "Kay, Daddy." She sniffled.

"Come here, Princess." He patted his knee and she ran over to him. "It'll be okay." He stroked her hair gently.

She held onto her father for comfort but couldn't understand how she couldn't be a bad person. She had watched the woman in her dreams do the same things that she could when she hurt people.

But she had also seen the woman as a good person, what could she do stop herself from being a bad person?

She closed her eyes and buried her face against Carths' neck with another sniffle "Don't let me be a bad person, Daddy." She begged.

That made his heart want to burst in pain. "Never, you will never be a bad person…" He felt tears sting in his eyes and held her tighter against his chest, he knew for sure now what he needed to do now.

Carth:

Carth anxiously sat in his chair tapping his fingers against his knee, what was taking so long?

He glanced at Adalias' bedroom door then back to his wrist watch, Bastila had agreed to come and talk with him and Adalia but they had been there in her room for almost an hour now.

"Anytime, now." He said impatiently then stood up to start pacing again.

A few minutes later they stepped out of the room and walked over to Carth. "How'd it go?" He asked anxiously as he picked up Adalia when she lifted her arms to him.

"She is very strong in the force, Carth." Bastila said calmly, never showed any emotion the whole time she was here, Carth thought. "She is way beyond her age expectations." She gave a gentle smile to Adalia who smiled back.

"Master Shann showed me ways to control the bad things that can happen." Adalia announced proudly.

"That's great, Princess." He smiled at her and kissed the tip of her nose.

"How about you go and play in your room, Adalia." Bastila suggested "So I can speak with your father."

He let her back down and she skipped along to her bed room, he watched his innocent little girl with a frown on his face, he knew where this conversation was going to lead.

"Carth." Bastila said gently and sat down on the couch and Carth followed her lead sitting back down on his chair, sitting on the edge with his elbows on his knees and his hands folded.

"'Master Shann'" He said with a raised eye brow.

"I believe you are aware of her situation and I'm positive you already know what I will suggest to you and I already know your answer." She said fixing her dress. "And I wouldn't bother asking…"

Carth nearly laughed his head off when he saw Bastila had arrive wearing a very 'un-jedi like' dress that was very revealing, "I'm undercover! I'm not supposed to be here." She had explained when he stared wide eyed at her.

"But" she interrupted him before he could speak "this is a very different case." She explained.

"All I'm asking for is a little advice and any help you can give." Carth said firmly.

"Carth, you have witnessed what she can do when she loses control." She said "If you were doing what was best for her you would give her the opportunity to learn how to control her emotions."

"Her emotions are just fine." He said "Will you please, Bastila, for old time's sake, help us?" He whispered.

Bastila opened her mouth then closed it, she had never seen Carth so desperate it had caught her off guard. "Carth, there-there isn't much that I can do without her coming to the academy."

"There isn't anything else?" He pressed on "There has to be something, Bastila please, I don't know what else to do. I have nowhere else to turn."

She felt pity for him, she knew how rough he had it ever since Revan had left unexpectedly.

She looked over the weary man with careful eyes, he may have not shown it on the outside but he was a real wreck. "Carth, I promise I will try to come and visit as often as I can, I will help you when you need it but I cannot make all of the problems go away. I'm sorry."

He nodded and was quiet for a few minutes.

"Did-did you find anything more about her dreams?" He asked quietly.

"Visions" she corrected him "I believe that is sharing in her mothers' memories."

"Can that help us find her?" He asked anxiously "I mean can she-can she 'speak' with her through the visions?"

"No. These, I believe are Revans' memories that she is subconsciously sending to her the easiest way she can; through her dreams." She explained "And Adalia is even sending some of her own memories to Revan."

"She has a bond with her?" Carth asked.

"No. I don't believe so, if they were bonded Adalia would also share a bond with me even though Revan has blocked me out completely, our bond is still there." She continued to explain "They are almost… connected. I do not know how to explain it, it is almost as if when Adalia was conceived a part of Revans' spiritual being was given to her."

He stared at her wrapping his head around this information. "So that means she isn't 'just' force sensitive." He stated.

Bastila shook her head "It's much stronger than that."

Carth rubbed his temples with his index fingers and shut his eyes tightly.

"She is in a very vulnerable spot, Carth." She said "And we both know the consequences of an untrained jedi…"

"I-I need some time to think this over." He whispered "Thank you, Bastila."

The man that looked back at her was broken and she frowned knowing that she had done nothing to help him.

She nodded "I'll show myself to the door." She stood to leave. "Feel free to call anytime you need, Carth." She added.

He was silent, a few minutes after Bastila had left he brought himself up to his feet and walked to Adalias' room.

He watched his little girl as she played with her dolls, her back to him, and he leaned against her doorway with his brow furrowed.

How could he leave his daughter to lead the emotionless lonely life of a jedi? But how could he be so selfish that he wouldn't let her go where she was better off for her own well-being?

"Again, with that instruction manual." He mouthed then closed his eyes and just listened to Adalia, sweet little Adalia playing with her toys.


	3. Under attack

Disclaimer: I Do Not own Star wars KOTOR. Kay… Start reading then…

Carth:

Under attack? How could we be under attack again? Hasn't Telos taken enough shit from the Sith already?

Many questions rushed through Carth Onasis' mind as he raced down the hall to his office with Adalia trembling in his arms. The loud "run for your lives and take cover" alarm had woken them up from a peaceful night of sleep.

He heard the gun fire before he saw it, he turned his head and saw sith, a sith here a sith there sith everywhere, almost as if they were coming from out of the shadows.

"Daddy!" Adalia squealed fearfully clinging to him.

"Hide your face!" He yelled and she tucked her head under his shoulder, if the sith were to shoot at them they would only hit him at least.

He ran faster and made it to his office lobby with commander Grenn and a handful of TSF officers already there. "Grenn, what the hell is going on?" Carth asked.

"Sith war-ship decided to pay us a visit. Probably after the fuel shipments we just got." Grenn figured "I need two parties to follow me to the docking bay, now." He commanded.

"Be careful." Carth told Grenn before he left.

"Always am." He retorted.

He looked over to see Zerre cowering behind her desk. "Admiral, what are we to do?"

"You are going to take Adalia" He handed his daughter off to her "and you will go into the safe room in my office." He said precisely.

Carth turned for the door.

"Daddy, no!" Adalia wailed and reached out for him again. "Don't leave, Daddy please!"

"I have to go, Princess. I'll be back I swear to you, I will." He held one of her outstretched hands for one moment looking longingly into her eyes. "I'll be back." He repeated then walked out the door.

Adalia:

Zerre was holding her closer and closer every time they heard a loud BANG that sounded like bombs going off.

How could she let her Daddy go off alone? She could feel the angry and dark energy just swirling around the entire station as soon as she woke up, she shouldn't have let him go…

She tried to concentrate on her Father and attempted to reach out to him to be sure he was okay.

"You can do anything if you really concentrate, Adalia." She remembered master Shann telling her when they were alone in her bedroom. "Through the force you could move an object across the room or even touch another person's mind…"

"Daddy," she called out through her mind.

"Down you go!" Carth yelled as he shot off his blasters at an attacking sith.

She could hear him, she could feel his mind.

She held her breath, "Daddy, be safe." She said to him silently and she felt something 'push' from her body and go out to protect his, almost as if it were a shield- a 'force' shield.

"Be safe, be safe." She chanted to herself.

Carth:

He immediately took notice that something was different as he continued to shoot down more sith.

He looked down to reload his blasters and was shocked to see that his skin was almost… glowing. He only took a fraction of a second to look then he was back into attack mode when he heard. "Watch it, Admiral!" From one of the TSF officers behind him.

He turned just in time to watch as a bullet from the enemies fire had hit him in the chest and simply bounced off of him and returned back to the sith that had shot at him.

He couldn't believe it, he stared in disbelief at his chest for a second. He hadn't been wearing any kind of armor or even had a shield for that matter.

"Be safe…" He heard a faint little voice in his head as he continued to attack the sith fighters. Adalia. His daughter was protecting him.

He almost laughed out loud at the thought of a four-year-old girl protecting a forty two year old man, but nonetheless, he was grateful towards his daughter and proud of her.

"Admiral, we have some back up!" His wrist comm buzzed.

"Who?" Carth asked Grenn while he shot away at the remaining sith.

"The Ebon Hawk crew. The exile is here." He said and heard gunfire from his side of the comm too.

Carth was hopeful and he slightly smiled as he ran back towards his office shooting down the sith that got in his way a bit more carelessly now that he had his own personal shield protecting him.

Adalia:

"Be safe, be safe, be safe…" She continued to chant in her head, she was completely exhausted from pushing herself to the limit to keep her father safe from un-known opponents.

The door to the safe room was flung open and Zerre gave a relived cry when she saw that it was Carth.

"Adalia." He said concerned, he found her curled up into a ball with her eyes closed tightly and her hands balled into fists."Adalia!" He said again and ran to her lifting her off of the ground.

"She's been like that for over half an hour! I-I didn't know what to do! I was so scared Carth…" Zerre trailed off but Carth gave no notice to her.

"Adalia, I'm here. We're safe, everything's alright!" He rubbed her back and sighed in relief when her tensed body had relaxed against his and she let out a soft groan.

"You were amazing." He said into her ear and she lazily wrapped her arms around his neck, Daddy was safe in her arms and everything was going to be okay… She closed her eyes giving into her drooping lids.

Carth:

His daughter had collapsed from exhaustion in his arms and he held her tightly for a moment then turned to Zerre. "I will walk you back to my apartment." He told her "You guys will be safe there until the battle is over." He assured.

She nodded in agreement and followed him back to his house he laid the sleeping girl in her bed and walked back out to the living room where Zerre was.

"I've called for some TSF officers come over to guard the door and I'll be back soon." He told her and she nodded again and slumped down on Carths' chair then he was off and out the door.

Adalia:

Adalia watched the beautiful woman as she sat in the middle of a dark room with her legs crossed and her eyes closed.

This dream felt different from all the rest she almost felt as if she were there standing in the room with her.

She felt completely calm around her and she felt an urge to try something, if it worked on her father maybe she could reach out to the woman too, she had figured…

"Hello?" She thought to her, trying to reach out through her mind.

The woman continued as if nothing happened but then Adalia heard her thoughts. "…miss you, miss you so much…"

The woman had a small frown on her face as if she knew someone had been invading her mind.

The dream had left her and but she continued sleeping, disappointment in her heart.

Carth:

Carth had spoken with the exile before she had left to finish her own mission and he walked back to his apartment with a hopeful look on his face, his own words ringing through his ears. "Simply tell her," he turned to look at the brown haired hazel eyed woman looking back at him. "That Carth Onasi is waiting for her…"

Terra Mae was going to find his Scarrlet, he couldn't stop thinking about that fact, he just knew she would be able to find her.

He nodded to the two TSF officers who guarded his door then entered his apartment to see Zerre standing in the kitchen absently looking over the many pictures that hung on the walls.

"Thank you, Zerre for keeping an eye on Adalia for me. I really appreciate it." He said to her and she turned back to him with a smile.

"Of course, Sir!" She gave him a playful salute.

"I-it's getting pretty late…" He said hoping she would take the hint to leave, he was exhausted all he wanted to do was crawl into bed.

"Oh." Was all she said and she quietly twirled a strand of hair around her finger.

"I could have a TSF officer walk you home if you'd-" he was cut off by Zerre who had flung herself into his arms.

"Oh, Carth please! I'm still frightened I don't want to have to be alone." She wailed to him wrapping her arms around his strong neck.

"It-It's okay, Zerre. I promise." He tried to maneuver himself out of the twenty three year old woman's clingy hold.

"Carth," she begged gently and pressed her body against his eying him meaningfully and gently stroked the side of his handsome face.

She slowly leaned her face closer to his offering him her lips.

"Zerre, no." He said firmly, he had never been this close to anyone since Scarrlet left…

"Why not?" She asked, seductively pressing her chest against his. "Carth, I know how to show you a good time." She gave him a sly smile and a wink.

"No." He said again pushing her away from him. "I-I can't do this."

The wedding ring on his finger almost burned against his skin. "You should leave, Zerre."

Tears of rejection began to swell in her eyes.

"I can't I'm sorry, Zerre. You are a wonderful person, really, you are but I'm in love with someone else." His eyes dropped back down to his wedding ring.

"Oh," she said, he knew he hurt her but she needed to hear the truth once and for all. "I-I'm sorry, Sir…"

"I-I'll just see you tomorrow then." She said quietly then left.

He went down the hall to look into Adalias' room to see her still sound asleep. He walked over to her then kissed her fore head. "Love you so much, Princess." He whispered quietly and gently stroked her hair out of her face.

He glanced over at the alarm clock on her dresser, it was nearly five in the morning and he decided maybe a few cups of juma juice wouldn't hurt before he went to bed…

Months had passed by and Adalias' force abilities progressed at a rapid pace, Carth wasn't sure how much longer he could push the limits as to how long he could keep her out of the jedi academy.

"Well then don't send her off if you don't want her to." Dustil said simply as he and Carth talked over the communicator, he and Dustil still stayed in contact and Dustil promised to call every week when he left to "find his purpose". And right now that 'purpose' was to take care of some girl he found at a cantina on Tatooine.

Whatever makes him happy, he had rolled his eyes, that kid had a few more lessons to learn and it wasn't always going to be Carth who taught them to him…

"It's not that easy, Dustil. If I don't send her she will be deprived of the training she needs. But I'm too selfish to send her away from me…" He admitted with a sigh.

"Hey, you've got your right to be selfish with your own kid." He said "I for one don't want her to be sent off either."

"DUSTY!" Carth turned to see Adalia running to the comm excitedly.

"Hey, Dilley Dallie!" Dustil smiled at her.

"I miss you, Dusty. When will you come back home, brother?" She jumped onto Carths' lap so she could get a better view of her half-brother.

"I'll be back in a few months." He promised. "Are you taking good care of Dad?" He asked.

"Mhmm." She responded and patted Carth's knee with a smile on her face.

Dustil turned his head as if someone was talking to him.

"Hey, I gotta get goin', okay?" He said. "Love you both, I'll call you later."

"Bye, son." Carth said looking at his boy longingly.

"Bye, bye, Dusty." Adalia said sadly then kissed her hand blowing the kiss to the holo-gram of Dustil and he caught the kiss touching his hand to his cheek before he turned off the comm.

They sat there together for a moment until he heard Adalia sniffle.

"Princess, what's wrong?" He asked holding her chin between his thumb and finger to turn her head to face him.

Tears had spilled over and were soaking her rosy cheeks. "Why did he have to leave, Daddy?" she asked quietly.

His heart ached for his little girl, people just kept coming and leaving in her little life and she never knew how to deal with the loss… "He'll be back, Princess. He promised." He assured wiping away her tears with his thumb.

This, she had gotten from him, never knowing how to cope with the absence of someone he loved.

He knew the root of this problem for her was Scarrlet, her mother, his wife, the missing piece in both of their hearts and he couldn't do anything to fix it…

He held her close. "She promised." He whispered against her hair so quietly that she didn't hear him.


	4. Birthday Bash

Carth:

He watched Adalia as she anxiously walked from the dinner table to re-arrange the snacks they had made then back to the front door waiting for someone to knock.

"Sweetie, it's still early." He chuckled as he lounged in his chair and watched her repeat her rounds a few more times.

"I know." She sighed then walked over to Carth to stand in front of him. "How do I look, Daddy?" She asked fidgeting with her hair that was braided at either side of her head, which looked pretty good considering that he had never made a braid in his life before this morning and he even fixed a white bow into one of them.

He tapped his chin as if he were thinking it over, she was wearing a sleeveless, knee high purple dress with grey leggings and black boots.

"Looks to me like you're about to jump right out of your skin…" He smirked "Other than that, absolutely gorgeous, Birthday Girl."

She rolled her eyes then smiled at the goofy face he made at her. "Thank you, Daddy!" She giggled then continued where she left off: re-arranging the candy bowl, finding a place for it so that she could get easier access for her sugar tooth.

A few minutes later she ran to the door when there was a light tapping "Mission!" She cried even before she opened it.

Definitely progressing, he thought to himself as he felt an automatic pang of fear hit him like it would every time she unexpectedly used the force.

Don't ruin the five-year-olds birthday, he told himself grimly then forced a smile onto his face when Mission walked in with presents in her arms and Jolee Bindo right behind her.

"Mission!" Adalia cried again and hugged her leg tightly.

"Hey there, Kiddo!" She laughed. "Happy birthday."

"Glad you guys could make it." Carth said standing up to greet them.

"Eh. What else could an old man do who has too much free time on his hands?" He gave Carths' back a pat then said to Adalia "Happy birthday, kid, and many more."

She smiled her signature smile that could melt hearts. "Thank you, Jolee." Then showed their guests to the snack table where Jolee gladly followed.

They sat in the living room chatting and sharing laughs until there was another knock at the door then Dustil came barging in with at least five presents in his arms blocking his face from view. "Happy birthday to my favorite little sister!" He exclaimed as he brought the gifts over to the kitchen counter.

"Dusty!" She squealed and jumped into his outstretched arms to hug him tightly.

"You spoil that kid to no end!" He laughed and stood up to wrap his arm around Dustils' shoulders. "Nice to see you, son."

"You too, Pops" he smirked and poked Adalia in the rib-cage. "What has he been feedin' ya?" You're ten times bigger than the last time I've seen you."

She giggled and squirmed as he continued to poke her then put her back down onto her feet.

"Ready for cake now that everyone's here?" Carth asked.

"Yes." Jolee answered automatically as he joined them in the kitchen.

"I was asking the birthday girl." He laughed.

"I'll answer for her then. Yes." He said and Adalia laughed while Carth rolled his eyes.

"Hey, old man haven't you had enough to eat yet?" Mission asked walking in to lean against the counter.

"Why, hello there." Dustil grinned looking the twilek from head to toe.

"Oh not this again, lover boy, haven't I turned you down enough since last year?" She said jokingly.

"Hey," he wagged his eye-brows playfully. "Can't keep an Onasi man down-."

"Definitely time for cake." Carth said stopping the two love-birds before things got out of hand then lifted Adalia up into his arms taking her to the counter with the large, pink cake with white flowers and five candles on top.

Carth grabbed lighter from off of the counter and began to light each candle, remembering each birthday as he went and realized that her mother wasn't there for a single one of them…

Don't ruin this for her you idiot, Carth thought to himself then put his smile back on. It's her birthday, her special day…

Adalia:

She watched the flames on her birthday cake as everyone around her sang "Happy Birthday" with smiles on their faces.

Everything was so perfect and she never wanted this moment to end.

She leaned forward when they had finished and closed her eyes never wanting to lose this feeling of complete belonging in the place that she was loved…

She blew out the candles and the crowd burst into applause, Carth leaned forward to kiss her rosy cheek "Happy birthday, Adalia." He whispered against her skin.

Carth:

They all watched Adalia as she played excitedly with her new presents as they lounged in the living room.

Mission had gotten her a bracelet and Adalia eyed the oddly shaped charms on it. "Those will let you slice through any door in the galaxy." Mission told her, proud of her work.

Carth had to thank her for that one later…

Dustil got her several toys from stuffed animals to dolls and a miniature ship that he made himself for her dolls.

Jolee had gotten her a pile of books that were full of pictures from all over the galaxy, she finally had some new bed-time reading material.

And Carth, he had bought her a custom, light blue fabric choker necklace with a dark blue precious gem hanging from it.

He turned his head to Adalia who was playing with her new toys and then looked over to Dustil who was still annoying the hell out of Mission as the lounged on the couch, he never got to spend time with Dustil like he does every day with Adalia and he still blamed himself for not being there for him when he most needed him even though Dustil had already forgiven him on many occasions.

But Dustil wasn't his 'boy' anymore, he was a twenty-two year old man ( flirting with anything that moved ) and he almost couldn't believe how quickly he had grown up.

It wasn't until he had watched his daughter blow out her birthday candles did he realize that his baby girl was growing up too and someone else is missing out this time…

Don't ruin this for her, he told himself. Not today, not on her special day…

Adalia:

She slept soundly after everyone had left the party and drifted slowly into a dream, a very familiar dream that she only had once a year but still one of her favorites.

She sat on the surface of Telos, the place where her Daddy would take her every once in a while when they could get out of Citadel station to go and have a picnic and just enjoy the fresh air.

But this time she wasn't with her father, she sat under a large tree with the beautiful woman holding Adalia close to her, her head slumped against the woman's shoulder soaking in the peace that just seemed to roll off of her.

"Happy Birthday, Adalia." The woman whispered, her voice didn't sound like it was there, more like way off in the distance echoing off of the grand mountains. "I love you so much, sweet-heart."

Then there would be no more talking, they just sat there together holding each other close never wanting to leave this small piece of heaven that they had shared, everything perfect, everything peaceful.

She turned her head to the woman several hours later knowing that the woman couldn't stay for much longer.

She held Adalia's chin in her warm hand and leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose then looked meaningfully into her eyes as the perfect scene had begun to fade away, as it always would and left her alone and in the darkness of her bedroom…

Writers' notes: I'm sorry that this chapter is shorter than the others but I've got much more comin' up next. Hold on my friends you are in for a wild ride! Ps. Thank you so much for your reviews they mean a lot to me! =]


	5. The Findings

Carth:

"Clear your mind, Adalia." Bastila told her, keeping her eyes closed as she sat cross legged in the middle of Carths' living room floor. "Focus on your breathing, keep calm, keep an opened mind…" She trailed off.

Carth watched intently at Adalia who was mirroring Bastilas' pose and would peek up from under her lashes to see if her master had noticed her squirming.

"She is way ahead of where I was when I was her age." Juhani told Carth quietly.

Carth had to keep himself from sighing when he saw her for the first time in years since she left to join Bastila, sadly Bastila had fully trained her to control herself and wipe away the rest of her free will…

Stop it, he had to tell himself, they need to keep their emotions in check…

He grunted. "Wonder where she gets it from…" He said flatly and eyed the cathar with a blank look.

She averted her bright yellow eyes and feeling self-conscience under his glare she roved her hands over her clothes, she was wearing an identical dress as Bastilas' which, in his opinion, would attract more attention than dismiss…

Juhani uneasily squirmed in her seat.

"I'm sorry." Carth went back to watching his daughter attempt to meditate "Ignore the cranky old man. You don't deserve any bashing." He trailed off and lazily leaned back in his chair.

"I understand, Carth." She said calmly in her deep-throated accent.

Carth hadn't been pleasant the entire time the two jedi had been in his apartment and Juhani easily understood why, they were the 'enemy', the 'enemy' who wanted to take his daughter away from him. She smiled slightly to herself, same old over-protective Carth, she thought to herself.

"Master Shann?" Adalia asked, giving up on her meditation.

"Yes?" She asked opening her eyes to look at the girls extended hand.

"Do all jedi get to have glowing swords?" She pointed to Bastilas' lightsaber that was hooked to her belt.

"Light saber." She corrected her. "And only trained jedi get them."

"Will I ever get one Master Shann?" She asked eagerly, a smile lighting up her face.

"Well-" She was interrupted by an angry Carth.

"No." He snapped, standing up quickly. "No light sabers! No training! No academy!"

The three of them stared wide eyed at Carth, shocked by his out-burst.

"No. Just-just, no!" He stormed down the hallway calling back to them over his shoulder. "I-I need a minute alone. Just do your jedi… things…"

He slammed his bedroom door and slumped onto his bed, burying his face in his hands.

He was at breaking point and he knew it, he didn't know how much more he could take. "Screaming at your kid won't help anything you bastard." He said to himself quietly and raked his fingers through his hair then shook his head helplessly. He wished he could take the harsh words back as soon as they had left his mouth…

He flopped onto his back and flung an arm over his closed eyes. "How could you let this happen?" He said at the ceiling and bit down on his lip.

For the first time since his wife had left him and their daughter he was angry with her and he hated himself for it.

There was a light tapping on his door and he took no notice to it.

He heard the door open and felt a small body climb up the bed to snuggle against his chest, his arms automatically wrapped around his little girl.

"I'm sorry, Princess. I'm so sorry." Hot tears fell down his face as he spoke, he couldn't hold them back no matter how hard he had tried.

She stroked the tears from his face and gave his prickly cheek a kiss. "Don't cry, Daddy." She begged quietly.

He couldn't believe how much she was reminding him of Scarrlet in that moment as she comforted him, he looked up at her, she looked just like her mother ( despite the fact that she had his eye color and nose shape ) hell, she even frowned the same way she does.

"I'm only upset with myself, Princess." He told her stroking a strand of hair out of her face then gently cupped the side of her face in his hand.

"Well don't be." She said rubbing his rough hand and gave him a small smile.

He couldn't help but smile back at her, he rubbed his face with his other hand "We should get back to your meditating, huh?"

"Only- only if you want me to, Daddy." She said gently.

"Only if you want to, Gorgeous." He stroked her rosy cheek with his thumb.

"Kay." She nodded and gave his hand a squeeze before she scooted off of the bed and walked back down the hall to go back to 'Master Shann' and Juhani.

He rubbed his eyes with a groan wishing that his daughter hadn't seen him crying and forced himself to get back onto his feet.

Since when was it her job to comfort him? He asked himself with a shake of his head.

His shoulders slumped. "Why can't things just be simple for us, again?" He asked and turned to follow his daughter out to the living room.

Adalia:

She doodled on the piece of paper in front of her as she sat alone at the short table with her classmates playing and talking around her but she wasn't paying any of them attention.

Pain, fear …. Pain, so much pain….

Adalias' body went limp and she flopped down onto the hard surface of the table.

Darkness…. Everything felt so dark….

Pain knotted in her stomach and a whimper escaped from her throat as tears flooded her eyes.

Darker…. Getting so much darker….

She felt as if the galaxy was trying to swallow her whole.

"Adalia!" Her teachers worried cries were way in the distance….

She felt the dark eating at her mind not leaving a single corner with light…

"H-hurts!" She wailed brokenly. "Hu-urts…"

The darkness was pulling her further and further away from reality until all of her senses had left her small body leaving her completely still…

Carth:

"What's going on?" Carth demanded as he barged into Adalias' hospital room to see his daughter sitting on the edge of a cot with a doctor hovering over her.

"Admiral!" The man turned to greet him.

"Hi, Daddy." Adalia waved at him with a loli-pop in between her fingers.

"What happened? Adalia, are you okay?" He pressed and walked over to her to rest his hand on her head as he examined her from head to toe.

"She gave everyone quite a scare, Sir." The doctor informed him. "She had spontaneously collapsed at school and I cannot find a single reason as to why that had happened. But as you can see her condition has improved." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Thank you." He told the man and he nodded in return.

"I'll leave you to some privacy" he turned to leave. "We would like to keep her over-night just in case."

Carth nodded and waited for him to leave.

"Sweet-heart, what happened?" He asked coming down on his knees in front of her to hold her chin in between his thumb and finger.

Her smile had slowly turned into a grimace and her dark, brown eyes were full of pain. "The- the bad feelings… It hurt, Daddy. It hurt me." She began to cry.

"Shh." Carth held her and soothingly rubbed her back as she wailed brokenly in his arms.

He was hurting her just as much as these 'visions' were by keeping her here and not sending her to Datooine with Bastila, where she belonged…

Carth felt tears sting at his own eyes as he held Adalia against his chest. "It's okay, Princess. Everything will be alright. I won't let it hurt you again." He promised and fought back the lump in his throat.

He held her closer as she sobbed, the tears finally spilling over his cheeks and he buried his face in his hair. "….okay…. Gonna be…. Okay…" He said brokenly as they held each other, never wanting to let go.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"That's not going to work for me." Carth argued firmly. "I need to see my daughter more than just once a month, Bastila. She's never even been away from me over night since the day she was born!" He complained, absently rubbing his sore back from sleeping in that hospital chair next to Adalia the previous night.

Bastila sighed over Carths' desk comm. "Admiral Onasi, I'm pushing things to the limits and beyond just for this to work out for you."

"Dammit woman, for the last time, call me CARTH." He demanded, irritation decorating his face.

She rolled her eyes "Okay 'Carth'." She shook her head and brought the calm mask back onto her pale face. "Once a month is the best that I can do Adm- Carth. I am sorry but you have to consider the circumstances. I don't even know how I am going to sneak you in or her out in the first place."

He swallowed hard and bit down on his lip, whatever is best for her, he told himself.

"It will work out, Carth I promise you that." She said reassuringly understanding the pain that he felt.

"Just tell me when and I'll be on my way." She said gently.

He nodded and rubbed his eyes "I-I still… Still need to tell her…" He admitted quietly.

"I see." She said quietly and felt uncomfortable as the Admiral went quiet. "Good-bye, Carth. The force be with you."

She disappeared from view and the comm went silent.

How could he bring himself to tell his little girl that he was sending her away? No. It's not like that, he fought with himself quietly as he sat at his desk ignoring the paper-work in front of him.

He rested his elbows on the desk and twisted his fingers painfully in his dark brown hair and groaned hating the silence that echoed through his office.

About an hour of self-loathing later his comm had buzzed and he answered. "What is it, Zerre?"

"Sir, you have a visitor who says they need to see you." She asked, he could hear a hint of bitterness in her voice. "Says her name is Terra." She said blankly.

Yes, send her in." He responded eagerly.

The exile had returned… With Scarrlet? He hoped desperately, calm down don't get your hopes up, he reminded himself.

He stared at Terra as she entered his office, waiting for her to say something but all he got was a nod of greeting.

"Well- did- did you?" He couldn't go any further, all he could do was eye the brown haired woman who stared back at him.

"Oh, yes. I've found her, Admiral." She confirmed and slumped down onto the chair that was on the opposite side of his desk and she absently tugged at a piece of hair that hung in her face.

"Where is she?" He almost yelled. "Is-is she here?" his eyes widened.

"Nope." She shrugged off his gaze and a small smile tugged at her red lips.

What the hell was up with her? He stared into her nearly black eyes. "Where is she?" He demanded. Wait, I thought her eyes were hazel, he thought and stared at her puzzled.

She waved her hand "Oh, off in the un-known regions, like you figured, but I was able to pin-point her location."

"Then what are you doing here?" He asked irritated and confused at the woman that sat across from him, something in the air just didn't feel right.

"Needed some fuel for the Hawk." She explained. "Filled it up and thought I would come and give you a heads up before we head out again."

The fuel had been off limits for everyone besides the Republic so how the hell did she…

"So I'll just go and find little miss Revan for you then." She said with a smug smile ignoring Carths' questioning gaze and stood up to leave.

The tension in the room could be cut through with a vibro-sword as they eyed each other, waiting for someone to make a move.

He didn't know how he could feel it but he just felt dark energy rolling off of her body as she stood in front of him with her lips turning into a sneer. A good person turning into a monster in a short period of time… It was all too familiar for him to stomach.

Carths' hand twitched for the blaster that was resting in its holster that rested against his thigh.

"I see." He said quietly his voice full of disgust and then there was a complete silence that entered the room as they eyed each other.

"I should be going now." She turned for the door with a sinister grin on her face.

He acted quickly, raising his blasters and pointed them at her back. "The hell you are-" He was cut off, Terra had acted faster, with a jerk of her hand Carth was thrown across the room to collide with the wall with a loud "Oomph" and a grunt of pain.

He held his throbbing shoulder, hoping it hadn't been dislocated and propped himself on his un-injured arm peering up at her with narrowed eyes.

Terra, enjoying the pain and anger rolling off of his bruised body had crouched over him with a smirk on her twisted face.

"Oh, our brave Admiral!" She cried in a mock cheer "You either are very stupid or someone has 'feelings' for the ex-Dark Lord."

"I won't let you touch her!" He snarled at the evil woman. He had to do something, he wasn't going to let her touch a hair on Revans' head, he'd die first.

Terra cackled. "Stupid and in love!" She declared setting a tight grip on Carths' jaw and switched on her light saber holding it close to Carths' neck. "Don't worry, Carth. I'll be sure to let Revan know that the republic is minus one Admiral."

Carth hit her wrist with the palm of his hand and kicked her leg out from under her sending her saber across the room and setting her momentarily off balance, just long enough for him to take advantage of.

He sprinted back to his desk and retrieved the double-bladed vibro sword he had stashed in the hidden compartment and dropped into a battle stance, facing Terra who had also regained her composure.

Light saber in hand she twirled it threateningly. "Alright maybe not too stupid…." She admitted and lunged to attack.

She wielded her light saber as Carth focused on blocking the deadly strokes of the powerful, orange weapon.

After what seemed like an eternity they had broken their spar to catch their breaths.

"This is getting boring." She said, faking a yawn and then waved her hand throwing Carth against the large glass window smacking his head, hard.

He groaned but didn't move, he felt warm blood trickle from his fore head and over his closed eye.

"You're a strong fighter, Admiral." She sneered standing over him "I see what Revan saw in you."

"Leave her…. Leave 'er …. Alone!" He growled struggling to get back up and find his fallen vibro sword again.

"Heh." She scoffed. "I admire your will, too bad I have to kill-" She was cut off.

"Daddy!" The shrill cry came from Adalia as she stood in the door way staring wide eyed at the horrific scene with Zerre standing behind her.

"Admiral!" The secretary gasped and tried to hide Adalia from view.

Terra stared at the child who had Carths' eyes and Scarrlets' features. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." She chided. "Revan and the Admiral got a little busy after you saved the galaxy, eh?" She asked very amused.

Carth was struggling to stay awake, he had to get up, he couldn't give into the pain. Adalia, Scarrlet, the two people who meant the most to him in the galaxy, they needed him.

Daddy, the sweet word had sent shocks of pain to his very core, he had to keep going for his daughter, his wife, his family.

"Get her out of here!" He yelled to Zerre who looked like he was going to faint from fear.

"No, Carth don't be rude. I'd love to meet Revans' 'daughter'." Terra said sweetly and gestured for her to come. "Bring her to me." She commanded and Zerres' eyes went dull and her face expressionless as she mindlessly dragged Adalia by the wrist towards them.

"No!" Carth grunted trying to stop the room from spinning as Adalia struggled against the secretary.

"Thank you." She waved her hand to Zerre. "Now back to work."

She mindlessly walked back out to the lobby leaving the three of them alone.

Terra smiled at the small girls' confusion and fear for her father. "Such a beautiful girl!" She complimented and her hand fell onto her black haired head. "And so strong in the force. Hmm. Just like her mother." She mused.

"Get your hands, ugh, off of her!" Carth winced at the pained and stared at his daughter with fear in his eyes but all he saw in her eyes was anger.

Adalia looked from her broken, bleeding father to Terra "You hurt my Daddy." She stated her tiny fists clenched.

"And I'm afraid I'll have to do more than that." She smirked at Adalia and pointed her saber to Carth who was attempting to sit up.

Adalia could feel her fathers' fear and then she was consumed with hate…. She let all of her anger go. "NO!" She shrieked and Carth watched as his desk was lifted off of the ground and was thrown at an un-expecting Terra, the blow had sent Terra straight on her back and the back fire made Adalia fall onto her backside.

Adalias' victory only lasted for five seconds when Terra had pounced back up to her feet and held her hand out towards Carth. "This is what happens when you cross me!" She snarled and shocks of blue lightning had exploded from her finger tips to collide with Carths' chest then everything went dark, the last thing he remembered was the feeling of being burned alive and the terrified screams of Adalia….


	6. Taken

Writers' notes: A thank you for reading and or reviewing my story/stories! Been going through a rough patch but writing has really been helping out…. Aanyways I hope you enjoy!

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Adalia:

Daddy, she hurt my Daddy! Adalia sat on the uncomfortable cot rubbing the tears away from her eyes and sniffling.

She had watched the sinister woman attack her father, she couldn't get his pained screams out of her head or the site of his blood smeared on his face.

"Daddy!" She had screamed helplessly and looked over to the woman. "Stop please, stop!" She cried digging her fingers into her skull and watched as Carths' body jerk uncontrollably against the shocks of lightning.

She dropped her hand and Carths' body went still, the brown haired woman looked at Adalia with false compassion in her dark, soulless eyes. "I'll leave your 'Daddy' alone," she smiled sweetly "if you come with me." She negotiated holding her hand out to her, gesturing for her to hold the black gloved weapon….

Adalia looked at her broken father and sighed quietly to see that his chest was still moving shallowly. "He'll be okay?" She asked fighting a lump in her throat.

"Mhmm." She stepped forward and came down to her knees to be at eye level with Adalia. "Only if you come with me." She stated and brushed Adalias' hair out of her face.

She cringed at the cold touch and shut her eyes tightly. "O-okay." She choked out.

"Good girl!" She praised and lifted her up into her arms and carried her away from her fathers' office.

"Be okay, Daddy. Be safe." She begged in her head hoping, praying that she was doing the right thing and her father would be okay like the woman had promised.

"Evening, Zerre." The woman said with a smirk to the secretary sitting at her desk staring blankly into space as drool dripped from the corner of her mouth.

They quickly made their escape to the docking bay and entered what looked like to be a very scarred battle ship that didn't look anything like the transportation shuttles she would take with her father.

"Hey, you're back-"a tall man with dark hair and an identical robes as the woman's had appeared from around the corner. "Who the hell did you kid-nap?" He asked alarmed as he eyed Adalia sitting on the woman's hip.

"Nabbed us a hostage." She shrugged and carried Adalia deeper into the ship until they stopped at a room with a cot and sat the child down on it.

"Why?" The man asked as he followed them. "Who is this kid?"

Adalia peered up at them as she rubbed her watering eyes, don't cry in front of them, she told herself, don't show any fear. She had learned that much from her father, never let the enemy know that you are afraid, she sat up straighter.

"Atton, I'll let you know everything…." She had a sinister grin on her face then gestured to Adalia. "In private. But for now if you get to the cockpit unless if you want republic loading up our ramps" She promised the man and his eyes widened.

"Fine, Terra. Geeze, sometimes I really wonder about you…." He trailed off as he walked away shaking his head.

Adalia watched Terra carefully as she sat on the bed next to her and looked her fiercely in the eye. "I trust we won't try anymore stunts while you're here." She said coldly. "I have many friends aboard who won't think twice about stopping you if you throw a desk at them."

Adalia nodded then stared blankly at the metal wall fighting the urge to let herself cry, she brought her knees up to her chest and buried her face against her leggings so she didn't have to look at Terra.

"Good." She said bleakly and stood to stand in the door way. "The refresher is across the hall but I don't want you wandering around."

Adalia waited to hear her footsteps fade away until she let her tears flow over and sobbed quietly to herself.

Hours later she went back to staring at the wall as she hugged the flat pillow off of the bed for support and fingered the necklace her father had given her on her birthday that clung to her skin.

She heard the door open behind her and felt a slight hesitation in the person standing in the hall. "Hello, I've brought some dinner for you." The unfamiliar voice with a slurred accent said quietly, she felt kindness in his presence but she didn't care.

The only person she wanted to see was her father so she continued to stare at the wall.

The man walked in with a bowl of something in his hands and looked down at her with a small smile on his face, he had a gentle look about him, his neatly combed hair was a shining blonde and glittering green eyes but what Adalia noticed the most was the subtle but calm feelings that rolled off of his tall muscled body.

"I thought you might want something to warm your stomach." He gave her a small shrug and offered the bowl of what looked like soup, to her.

Her stomach ached as the sweet smell filled her nostrils. "All I want is my Daddy." She said brokenly and tightened her grip on the pillow. "I just want to go home." Don't cry, don't cry, she chanted to herself as she felt tears sting her glittering brown eyes again.

He looked at her sadly then lowered the bowl onto the side table next to the bed. "I'm- I am sorry." Was all he could say.

Don't cry, don't cry, she chanted even as tears spilled over, sliding down her pale face and a sob caught in her throat.

Something in the man snapped, as if he couldn't bare the child's suffering and he sat down next to her resting a hand gently on her shoulder. "I'm sorry." He said again gently rubbing her arm, attempting to soothe the five-year-old.

She reached out to feel his thoughts and didn't sense any anger just confusion and…. compassion? Nevertheless, she couldn't trust him, he was friends with Terra and shouldn't be trusted.

Her sobs decreased to sniffles and hic-ups. "You do not need to be afraid of me." He stated gently after a few minutes, she could feel him reaching out to her the same way Master Shann had before.

Was he a jedi too? She looked up at him questioningly and rubbed her swollen eyes with her palms.

"My name is Mical." He smiled and held his hand out to her. "And yours would be?"

"Adalia, Adalia Onasi." She told him resting her hand in his, he shook it gently reaching into his vest with his other hand to retrieve a hanker-chief and gently dabbed both of her eyes.

He looked at her differently now, almost as if he knew who she was. "You should eat, Adalia." He said resting her hand back down into her lap giving her the tissue. "We won't be reaching out destination for a long while."

She nodded and smiled at him, deciding she should give into her growling belly.

"Disciple." They both turned to see a bright red haired woman with the same robes as Atton and Terra. "Terra wants to see you." She said then turned to look at Adalia as if she wanted to say something else but turned and left instead.

"I'll come to check on you later."Mical gave her a pat on the hand and a reassuring smile before he turned to follow the red haired woman, leaving Adalia alone with her own thoughts and a now cold bowl of soup.

Carth:

He watched Scarrlet sitting in her hospital bed as she breast-fed their new born baby for the first time with a lazy grin on his face.

He had held her hand through twenty-eight hours of painful labor and watched as their daughter had been brought into the world by the woman he loved, he couldn't have been happier when he heard his baby crying for the first time and Scarrlet sigh in relief.

She slept soundly now in her mother's arms with Carth standing at the foot of the bed patting Scarrlets' knee. "I'm so proud of you, Scarr." He said for the fifth time and she gave him a tired smile.

"She's so perfect, Carth." She looked like she was going to cry as her finger glided from the babes hand to her full, rosy cheek.

Carth sat down next to her on the bed and draped an arm around his wife. "She's as gorgeous as you, beautiful." He kissed her temple and gently stroked the soft skin of babies arm.

It was nearly imposable for him to believe that the small child cocooned in the pink blankets was his child, their baby. "So, Adalia then?" He asked never removing his gaze from the small bundle.

She nodded. "Adalia Lynn Onasi," She confirmed proudly then rested her head against Carths' shoulder and yawned.

"I love you, Carth." She said after a few minutes of watching their daughter sleep, as they waited for the reality to set in that they were parents and that they had a baby girl to raise and love now.

"I love you too, I love both of you." His hand roved over Adalias' head of dark hair. "And I'm going to do things right this time…." He promised them and himself.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Admiral, Admiral Onasi!" The distressed voice sounded so far away…. "Sir you are going to be alright." The voice confirmed.

He tried to make his voice work but his body felt too heavy.

Adalia, where was his daughter?

His senses were slowly coming back to his numb body as bright lights nearly blinded him. He could hear a few people crowded around him but none of the words were making any sense to him and then he heard a very familiar. "Beep-Boop-Bweeeep!" And a small shock on his leg made everything clear to him again, especially the pain.

He wielded his eyes wildly around his office looking for a familiar face but all he saw were a few random TSF officers guarding him as a doctor- the same doctor that took care of Adalia the night before- flashed a light in his eyes and talked to him calmly.

"He's awake!" The doctor declared but Carth gave him no attention as he attempted to ask him questions.

Terra, had she escaped? He tried for his voice again but only felt his lips move.

He turned his head and saw a droid next to him. No. Not just any droid….

"T-3?" Carth gasped, his voice sounding as rough as he bet he looked.

"Admiral, please remain still! Your head is bleeding very severely." He heard the doctor say but none of them mattered, all he focused on was the small droid that chimed frantically.

"Bweep-dop-dwooo-bweep!" T-3 excitedly chirped loudly in Carths' ear.

Even though Carth could never understand a single word the bucket o' bolts uttered he was over joyed to see him there. The last time he had seen him he was taken with Scarrlet and H-K 47 to regions un-known…. Which the Hawk was still with the exile, a plan began to wield in his bleeding head.

His mind snapped back to the present when he felt the puddle of blood beneath his head. "Adalia." He mumbled looking back to the people crowding him. "Where is she?" He demanded, and despite the hands trying to keep him still he painfully sat up to discover his arm wrapped in gauze and felt the same fabric wrapped around his skull.

"Where is she?" He repeated frantically searching around his destroyed office.

"Sir, she wasn't here when we arrived-" One of the TSF officers informed, he had heard enough. He pulled himself off of the ground feeling his body protest painfully. "T-3" He panted to the droid. "I need your help."

T-3 chirped and spun in a circle more than eager to help.

He ignored the protests of the people behind him and walked past Zerre in the lobby as she attempted to beg for his forgiveness.

"Just like old times." He said flatly as the droid followed him down the hall, letting the familiarity set in.

Adalia:

Mical had kept his promise and came to check on Adalia a few hours later, he was glad to see that she was no longer crying and that most of her food was eaten.

"Good evening." He greeted her with a smile.

"Where are we going, Mical?" She asked as soon as he stepped into the room, apparently the time alone had given her courage and he respected that.

"I can honestly tell you that I have no idea where we are going." He admitted, Terra refused to explain her plan to him.

She looked at him with innocent yet bold eyes. "Why am I here?" She pressed on. "Why did Terra hurt my Daddy?" She looked at him demanding answers.

He stared at the tiny girl. "How old are you?" He asked, she was acting way beyond her age.

She held up five fingers. "Why am I here?" She repeated stubbornly.

Mical shook his head and looked at her with a stressed expression, he couldn't possibly begin to explain to her how important she actually was, rather how important her parents were….

He peered outside the room then closed the door behind him and locked it behind him as he walked over to Adalia to kneel in front of her.

"Adalia." He started with a sigh and looked into her eyes. "You need to trust me okay? Now I know that you don't know me but I do know how strong you are in the force and I know that you can weed out liars easily so you know when I tell you the truth." He paused and watched her carefully. "You need to know, Adalia that I am on your side and that I have no intentions to bring you any distress."

She looked at him, confusion furrowing her brow. "If you are friends with Terra then how can you be?" She questioned.

Mical said in a whispered tone. "I know your Father, Adalia. I have worked for him, before I joined the Ebon Hawk crew. But I am with the republic still." He insisted

Her eyes widened. "You know my Da-" He cut her off by holding his index finger to her shell-pink lips.

"They cannot know of this." He said firmly gesturing to the door and she nodded. "And I apologize but you must stop asking questions and just trust me. Alright?"

She almost protested but closed her mouth and decided she wasn't going to be able to get out of this situation on her own… "Alright." She agreed with a nod.

"I promise to you, Adalia. I will not let anything happen to you while I am around." He gently tousled her snarled hair with a reassuring nod.

"Thank you." She said very grateful to be able to relax knowing that she had one friend in this unfriendly place. "Can-can I ask you one question?" She asked holding up one finger.

"What would that be?" He asked uncertain.

"Terra-Terra was…. Was talking about my- my mother." She mumbled. Every time she would ever question her father as to why she only had a daddy and not a mommy he would quickly change the subject and refused to answer her questions.

"I apologize but I cannot tell you anything about your mother, that-that is not in my authority…." He said gently.

"But you know her!" She stated nearly leaping off of the bed.

"I know of her but no I do not know her personally." He told her and she nodded silently.

He turned his head as if someone had called him. "I must go." He said standing up quickly. "It's very late you should get some sleep, Adalia." He turned to leave.

She was very tired and decided he was right. "Good night, Mical." She said sweetly to her new friend and kicked her boots off to crawl under the blankets.

He couldn't help but smile at the small girl. "Good night, Adalia. Sleep well child." There was an un-explainable responsibility that he felt this little girl that he had no connection to but maybe he didn't want to understand it and just go with what was the right thing to do.

He shut off the light and closed the door leaving Adalia alone in the dark room.

Sleep wasn't going to come easy to her and she decided to give up on trying after about an hour of lying in the empty room.

She got up to use the refresher but before she returned to her temporary room she saw the light on in a room down the hall and heard the familiar sound of a droid working busily.

She knew that she wasn't supposed to wander but she decided that she would take the chance of running into an unfriendly face and walked to the room quietly to peer inside.

She saw a rusty colored droid working over a large computer. "Statement: I do believe that the 'other' masters' off-spring is safe for the time being." The droid talked to the computer which responded with a "Dweep- bop-boop."

Adalia found that there was a very large threatening gun in the droids reach and decided to stay away from this room….

She walked aimlessly around the ship discovering many locked rooms that she could easily slice through, she fingered the bracelet around her wrist that Mission had made her, but didn't want to find out what was on the other side of them.

"-don't you think that this is risky at all?" She stopped by one of the locked doors to find at least two people inside arguing and it sounded like the dark haired man-Atton, and he obviously wasn't happy.

"Atton," She could easily tell that the other person was Terra. "She is going to be a vital part of the operation. I don't see why you have a problem with it. Besides…. We've both done worse things."

There was a pause and then heard Atton sigh heavily. "Do you have any idea how pissed Revan is going to be when she finds out we've got her kid? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if she already knew!" He paced in the room.

"Mhmm. I'm hoping she'll be pissed." She said simply.

"What?" Atton gasped.

"I was only planning on killing her lover but obviously this is going to be much more interesting!" She cackled a fearful laugh.

"Damn, you play a very dangerous game, woman." Atton hissed. "I don't know why you have the urge to get yourself killed but why do you have to drag all of us with you?"

She jumped when she heard what sounded like skin smacking skin. "You have such little faith in me that you think I'm so stupid that I'm going in there on a whim? Do you understand how vulnerable she will be when she sees that I have her daughter under my saber? Do you understand how easy it will be to make her go dark side and try to kill me when I slit her little mistakes' throat?"

Adalia jumped back and smacked right into a hard body.

A large hand muffled her terrified squeal and was thrown over the shoulder of the full armored body of the stranger. "Shh." He snapped when she began to protest.

They entered the engine room and he dumped the girl down in the work bench. "You're really risking your skin, kid." He shook his masked head.

"Who are you?" She demanded staring wide eyed at the threatening man.

He leaned back to look the girl over. "Been a while since I've seen you, kid." He stated as he lifted his mask over his head to show the grayed hair and scarred face beneath.

Carth:

They couldn't have gotten too far yet he knew that much, he was only unconscious for ten, possibly fifteen minutes.

"T-3." Carth called over his shoulder to the droid working in the computer room. "Anything yet?" He sat in the cockpit of his ship the Raven Knight.

"Bweeep-dwoop-bwop." He chimmed and rolled over to the navi-computer punching in the Ebon Hawks' destination coordinates he got from H-k 47 ( Carth made a mental note to thank the annoying assassin droid later ) and Carth eyed the computer.

"Defiantly un-known regions." He said grimly. "It's going to take at least three days! That's even with hyper-drive." He groaned angrily.

His hand brushed against his bloody bandages on his fore head praying that he only had a mild concussion. "I need to go patch myself up, T-3 watch the controls."

The droid took his place and Carth walked down to his infirmary. "I'm coming for you." He said quietly when he was alone. "I'm coming for you…. I promised." He said quietly to the two people who meant the most to them as he examined his wounds.


	7. An Orange Jacket A Broken Promise

Carth:

Carth Onasi stared blankly at the orange jacket that sat at the bottom of his foot locker then gave the old piece of fabric a small smile.

"It's been a while since I've seen you," he stated.

He reached for the old jacket that his uncle had given to him years ago when Carth first left to join the republic fleet, he remembered the strange honor he took in wearing the war veteran's old pride and joy.

"We've really been through a lot." He frowned at the small tear in the shoulder that he had been mending and re-mending most of his life.

"No offense, but I was really hoping that I wouldn't need to ever see you again." He held the shirt in his hands, remembering the battles it had suffered through, his finger ran over the tear, all of the scars it had received and all of the blood it had once bared.

He shrugged the jacket on over his arms, careful when it came to his bandaged shoulder, and watched himself in the full-length mirror in front of him as he buttoned it.

"Sadly, there is more work to be done." He straitened the collar of his jacket, a brief memory hit him. =-=1-=-=-=1-=-=-=-1=

"It's only fair." Scarrlet insisted, her fists on her hips.

"Okay, I get the light saber thing, but why my jacket?" He asked but handed the orange shirt to her anyways.

"It symbolizes our time on the Ebon Hawk and on our mission," she explained and folded it to put it in the foot locker right next to her light sabers, "just as much as my sabers do. I think it is pretty clever and meaningful." She shrugged.

"Of course it is," he crossed their bed room to wrap his arms around her from behind, "it means everything to me that you'll never have to touch them again." He said truthfully, his palms caressing her hips.

Her hand ran over his and fingered his engagement ring with a smile, "isn't it?" She turned around in his arms to kiss him. =1-=-=1-=-=-1=

He frowned at himself in the mirror.

"I guess we're all breaking promises," he said quietly and rolled up his sleeves.

The jacket framed his body perfectly and hugged his flesh as if it were welcoming him back to its form, welcoming him back to battle…

His attention was brought back to his surroundings when the ship took a surprising jerk to the side, making him slam into the wall on his good shoulder he grumbled angrily then bolted for the cockpit, the alarms screeching loudly.

Adalia:

Her deep brown eyes narrowed at the man. "How do you know me?" She questioned him as he dropped his helmet onto the work bench beside her.

His dark eyes glinted. "Your folks introduced us when you were small," he looked her over, "well, 'smaller'." He ran a gloved hand through his hair.

Adalia knew that a lot of people knew who she and her father were back on Telos, but she had no idea how many people knew her parents, she began to wondered what kind of lives they had actually lead on before she was around.

"Who are you? How do you know my parents?" She asked, her brow furrowing.

He paused and looked her over again, "I go by Mandalore now-a-days, but Scarr and Republic would know me as Canderous and I guess you could say that we were friends," he shook his head then corrected himself, "your mom 'n me," he grunted, "Republic, not so much."

She stared at him questioningly, but he shook his head at her un-asked questions. "The things you should know, kid."

"Then tell me." She challenged and crossed her arms.

"Sorry, if it were up to me I'd fill you in, but," his eyes rolled, "it's 'not in my authority' to tell you."

She was frustrated with the adults thinking so little of her, she reached out through the force to attempt to touch his mind, but there was no way into his thoughts or even his feelings.

"I admire the attempt, but those mind tricks don't work on me." He gave her an apologetic smile, at least she thought it was apologetic, his face was constantly masked with a hint of a scowl.

Her arms crossed and her fore head crinkled, she opened her mouth to argue, but she was cut off by a chuckle.

"If I needed any further proof that you're your dads' kid that face was proof enough." He laughed, "all you need is an orange jacket and a blaster!" He mused.

She ignored the comment, "why do people think that I can't understand?" She snapped. "I can understand well enough that what's going on isn't a good thing and that not telling me anything isn't doing me any good." She eyed him angrily.

He held his palms out to her and tried to swallow another chuckle. "Hey, like I said, if it were up to me I'd tell you everything, hell, I'd even throw you a light saber if I had-"

"I hope that we are not filling a little girls head with ideas now." Adalia peered around Canderous to see Mical standing in the doorway.

Canderous waved his hand over his shoulder at Mical as if he were shooing away a fly, "my suggestions, her own ideas."

He stepped around Canderous to stand in front of Adalia and frowned at the dark circles under her glimmering eyes. "You should be sleeping," he scolded.

"I can't," she frowned back at him. "No one is answering my questions."

"And I was only attempting to ease the kid's mind." Canderous rolled his eyes again, "oh, right, that wouldn't be in my authority." He made a face at Micals' turned back, making Adalia cover her mouth and giggle into her fingers.

Mical shook his head but was glad that the tension in the room was momentarily lifted. "We have spoken of the importance of this situation, Mandalore. I hope that you can respect Revan and not corrupt her child." Mical told him over his shoulder.

Adalia felt a sudden wave of unsettling darkness pooling in her mind, a conflict of harsh and gentle whispers snapped at her ears.

Mical obviously felt it too and haunched his shoulders, turning to see Terra standing in the hallway, the shadows masking her expression. "Go ahead, corrupt her all you want. I don't care what you do with her as long as there's enough life left in her by the time we reach Revan." She said coldly and glared at Adalia.

Adalia sank back on the bench, wishing she could disappear under the intense stare, a gentle in-audible whisper rose above the rest and she felt a sudden rush of bravery, she stared right back at Terra, boldly holding her chin high.

The blackness of the woman's eyes reminded Adalia of the dark ash in the fire place after her father had light a fire on a cold day, the remains of the once dangerous and threatening limbs of flame now barren and lifeless, cold and dead…

Terra's head snapped to the side, breaking their stare and her loose brown hair whipped at her face, "oh, this is going to be great.' She grunted and ran down the hall, leaving them in silence.

A few seconds later the ship jerked to the side, knocking Adalia off of the work bench.

"Adalia!" Mical gasped and caught her before she could hit her head against the hard floor and braced himself against the wall as the ship took another hit and nearly spiraled.

"What the hell?" Canderous yelled from the other side of the room, avoiding the falling parts of the ship, wires and bolts flew from the wall and sparks jumped off of the lively metal of the ship.

Adalia pressed herself into Mical's hold, avoiding the flying metal. "Watch it," he grunted as he received a hunk of metal to his shoulder as he shielded Adalia with his body.

"What the hell?" Canderous repeated after the ship had steadied to a slow but calm state moments later and rubbed his freshly burnt neck.

"Asteroid field," Atton growled as he entered the room quickly. "Damned, freaking asteroid field!" He groaned angrily as he surveyed the sensory system that had fallen to oblivion.

"Are you alright?" Mical asked Adalia as he pulled himself to his feet then helped her stand.

"You're hurt," she stated, ignoring his question and watched as he painfully rubbed his injured shoulder.

"That is not what I asked. Are you alright?" He repeated and relaxed when she nodded.

"Dammit!" Atton yelled when he received a shock from the loose wire in front of him.

"How's it feel to be on the receiving end?" Canderous mocked Atton as he tried to sort through the rubble and retrieve his helmet.

Terra stormed into the room, the rust-red droid flanking her as it complained about the 'drunken meat-bag'. "Damned hyper drive is dead!" She growled at Atton.

"It's not my fault! You have me driving completely blind out here." He argued with her and Canderous slowly slipped out of the room, avoiding the next accident.

"The hell it is," she jabbed her finger at his chest and swatted away the hanging wires in her face, ignoring the shocks she received. "You weren't even paying attention! You, nerf-herding, binge-drinking, imbecile."

Mical brushed his hand over Adalia's hair and urged her to follow him down the hall where she gladly followed, leaving the wreckage and screaming people behind them.

"I want to show you something, Adalia." He said calmly and lead her to a smaller room that was similar to hers, but had a lab station along the wall.

He shut the door behind him and sat down on the bed, patting the empty space next to him.

She sat down without hesitation as she struggled to keep her eyes open, something about Mical's presence was very calming and it made her feel at peace when she was around him, she stiffened when she saw blood blossoming on his shirt through a large tear in the fabric at his shoulder. "Mical," she gasped.

"It's alright, I'm okay." He told her reassuringly and she watched as he shrugged off his vest and over shirt to reveal a deep cut at the top of his shoulder and curving to his collar bone, her eyes widened at the blood that trailed from the wound and staining his sleeveless shirt.

"I'm alright." He promised and gave her a small smile.

She shook her head in disbelief and swallowed hard, remembering the blood that leaked from her father's wounds and pooled around his still body…

"But the blood," she gasped. "There's so much blood!"

"Watch," he said quietly, his hand covered the wound and his eyes slid to a close, she watched in awe as a bright white glow danced between his fingers and his flesh, twisting and searching along the length of his body to reach each inch of skin.

Her eyes widened even further when he pulled his hand away to show her his healed flesh, she sat on her knees and searched his shoulder, the only proof of him ever having a wound was the smeared blood left behind.

"How did you do that?" She questioned as she examined him.

"A healing technique that is taught in the ways of the jedi," he stood to retrieve a towel off of the lab table and began to wipe away the streaks of drying blood on his skin.

"Will you teach it to me, Mical?" She begged, Master Shann had never shown her anything this spectacular let alone taught it to her.

He grinned at her. "I was hoping that would be your response. We can start after you get some sleep."

She nodded slowly, too tired to argue.

"You can sleep here tonight if you would like," he offered and grabbed his clothes off of the bed to drop them into the sink by the lab station.

"Thank you, Mical." She yawned and pulled herself under the blankets, "Mical." She felt uneasy as he headed for the door.

"Yes?"

"Will you stay in here, with me?" She asked quietly, she didn't want the calming feelings to go away.

He could feel that she was ill at ease and decided that if he were to leave that neither of them would get a wink of sleep, he didn't want to leave her on her own with Terra around.

"Of course." He turned the light off and made himself comfortable on the floor next to her.

"Thank you, Mical." She smiled into the darkness, her questions a low priority for now.

His deep breathing became her lullaby and his heart beat echoed through the forces' shadows, her own heart tuning in to his calming, gentle beat.

Carth:

"Damned asteroids," Carth grunted as he steadied his ship back into a calm strife.

"T3, what are our damages?" He turned in his chair to see T3 rolling into the cockpit to work on the data base.

"Bweep-dwop-dwooo." He chimed as he activated the hyper drive and they jumped back into hyper space.

Carth surveyed the control panels in front of him, "looks like the shields are out." He rubbed his beard, "but other than that, I think we're fine." He flinched at the pain in his shoulder and relaxed back in the chair.

"Bwop-dweep," T3 rolled up next to Carth and waited anxiously for his next opportunity to help again.

Carth silently studied the stars moons and planets that passed by in a blur and wondered what kind of life inhabited them.

"T3?" Carth said after a few moments of silence.

"Dwooo?" His round head spun around to stare at him with his glassy gaze.

"I don't think that I've said this yet, but thank you, T3. I don't know where I'd be without you." He said truthfully and smiled at his silent nod.

His eyes darkened, he never thanked him for anything before then, not even years ago he never thanked him for freeing them on Saul Karaths' ship because he was too wrapped up in his own self-pity, he was eternally grateful for the little bucket o' bolts.

"Just, thank you, for everything." He wished he could understand the droid then he could ask him the last time he had seen Scarrlet… He turned back to the window, he supposed it didn't matter now that he was heading straight for her.

He frowned out the window wishing that it would be a happy moment when they finally reunited, but he had a feeling that the exile had other plans.

A sudden pang of unease twisted his stomach into a knot, his eyes narrowed and he gasped when an in-audible whisper touched his mind, so familiar, so sweet…

He knew that Scarrlet was close and he also knew that the deeper he ventured into the un-known regions the darker it was getting.


	8. Dreams, Revelations and Destinations

Writers note: A thank you to all of my patient readers, I know it's been a while since I've added on to the story. Anyways, feedback would be awesome as always.

Mical:

He sat on the floor, attempting to shake the circulation back into his legs when he heard Adalia whimpering in her sleep again.

He carefully placed his hand on her forehead to brush her damp hair out of her paled face and she flinched at his touch. "It's alright, you're okay." He mumbled mindlessly, nothing was alright, but he could at least soothe a sleeping child's mind.

He waited until her cries turned into calm breathing and pressed a gentle kiss into her cheek, he figured it was close enough to morning. "I'll be back soon, my dear."

"Daddy," she mumbled quietly in her sleep and reflexively brushed her hand over Mical's jawline, he felt a flash of guilt twist in his stomach.

He hated that she was put in this position, taken away from her father, taken away from her happiness, her peace… He hated that he could have prevented this from happening, he should have stopped the exile from spiraling down this path.

Is it such a bad thing? Adalia depends on you, she is very fond of you.. A small voice in the back of his head questioned him.

He pulled himself to his feet scowling, completely disgusted with himself. He was selfish to think only of the fact that he was able to see her again, to get to know her, to be the one to protect her.

"I'll be back." He whispered quietly after he shrugged on a fresh set of clothes and stepped out into the hallway, closing and locking the door behind him.

He hated himself, he loved her selfishly, he realized that he has loved her ever since the first time he laid eyes on her.

-0-0-0-0-0-

"Now, I know that you have obtained much knowledge of the jedi history and ways." Admiral Onasi stated and folded his hands together, waiting for Mical to respond.

"I- yes, I have studied the jedi artifacts and have learned of the jedi's ways, past and beliefs." Mical answered still puzzled as to why the Admiral had personally requested his audience, he was the head of the recovery team on Dantooine, but still, he was only a mercenary.

Mical shifted nervously in his seat, he had been aware that Carth Onasi had been a part of the team that had found the legendary Star-Forge, he had been itching to ask him questions about how his team had discovered the grand piece of history, but instead held his tongue.

"Can I ask you something," the Admiral paused and gave him a gentle smile, "involving a legend that I have been told of."

Mical raised an eye brow, "you can ask, sir." He chewed on his lower lip, "I may not know of the answer, but I could try to put your mind at ease."

Carth's face dropped and turned very serious. "How much do you know about the un-known regions?" He absently straightened the papers in front of him on his desk, "I know that they are un-known for a reason, but does it have anything to do with the dark-side?"

Mical leaned back in his chair, remembering all of what he discovered in Dantooine's libraries with ease "there are many legends and conspiracy's of the un-known regions," Mical stated, "and most of them do involve both the dark and the light side."

Carth nodded, "are they true? Is it true that the un-known regions have been left behind because of the dark-side leaving it scarred?"

Mical looked over the anxiety in the Admial's face, "the stories that I believe to be true are of this." He began. "The un-known regions were once known to many, years ago, inhabited by both jedi and sith, living in their own wars, battles and lives." Mical's eyes darkened, "the entire region was wiped clean of all light, all jedi killed, to only be inhabited by sith, killing and destroying their own kind until there was nothing left but the darkened scars and the deaths of millions."

Carth thought it over silently.

The very thought of the jedi race beginning to decrease brought guilt and fear into Mical's young mind, guilt for knowing he should have become one of them and fear for what the rest of the galaxy will become if the remaining jedi cease to exist.

"Light cannot live with-out darkness, darkness loses its stability without its opposite and the entire region is abolished, leaving behind the echo's of its darkness and death." Mical summed up.

Carth nodded, "I understand," he said quietly and held his chin in his hand, his deep brown eyes far away from their conversation.

"You don't seem like you like this information," Mical commented.

"Not one bit-" Carth was interrupted by his desk comm.

"Sir, you have visitors." The feminine voice informed then she was followed by another female, a very annoyed female.

"Geeze, Carth! Now I need permission to even see you? Your head must be the size of-"

"Send her in, Zerre." Carth said rolling his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose, interrupting the hissing female.

A blue twi'lek girl entered the office, obviously pissed at the Admiral, but Mical gave no attention to her, he eyed the baby sitting on the twi'lek's hip.

The little girl was no more than one year old, sucking on a pacifier and a toy doll in her tiny hand, "Da-da!" The infant squealed and reached for the Admiral, dropping her doll onto the floor as her hands fisted and opened repeatedly and demandingly.

"Hi there, Princess." Carth stood to scoop the girl out of the twi'lek's arms, her short ringlets of hair bouncing and her rosy cheeks dimpling.

"My shift is over, good-bye!" The twi'lek waved at them over her shoulder as she stormed out of the room.

"You can't stay mad at me forever, Mission." The Admiral called to her as she exited his office then shook his head.

Mical leaned over in his chair to retrieve the fallen doll.

"I'm sorry about that," Carth said, holding the babe in his arms, "that doesn't happen.. most of the time."

He held the doll carefully and gently stoked his thumb over its chin, "I believe you dropped this," he held the doll out to the baby girl who immediately took it from his outstretched hand.

"She's a lovely child." Mical stated then smiled at her.

Her deep brown eyes shimmered as she smiled past the pacifier in her mouth then tucked her small head under the Admiral's chin.

"Her mother thanks you." The Admiral's meek smile turned into a frown.

They were both silent for a moment and watched the babe as she cuddled with her doll, Carth's expression sad and pained.

Mical felt a strange sense of longing, longing to hold the small child, longing to never let the girl go once he had her in his arms… His eyes darkened then he stood quickly, "If that is all that you need, Admiral, I should be going."

"Of course," Carth stood again to shake Mical's hand, "thank you."

"Yes, you're welcome." His eyes never left the child's face.

The babe's fingers curled and uncurled several times, "buh-bye." She cooed sweetly, her dimples showing again.

He couldn't help but smile at the girl and wave back at her. "Good-bye, child."

The moment he turned his back to her he felt a pang of un-explainable loss eating at his chest, he felt physical pain as soon as he left the office, his knee's nearly buckled beneath him… He never forgot the encounter with the small girl who's name he never even knew.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"You're such a cheater." Mical heard Mandalore's deep voice grunt before he even made it to the Ebon Hawk's main room.

"It's not my fault you buy into it, now is it?" Meira sneered at him.

Mical took a seat at the round table that the two were playing pazaak at and the way it sounded the game wasn't very friendly.

"You bounty hunters are all the same." Mandalore dropped his cards onto the table and turned to face Mical to look him over. "Babysitting takin' a lot of energy out of ya, I see."

Mical felt around the ship to find that Terra and Atton were off in their bunk room, most likely making up after their fight… "You respect and honor Revan." Mical stated promptly.

The madalorian leaned back in his chair, ignoring Meira's questioning gaze. "I see there really was a reason why I stuck around this long." He flashed an anticipating grin, "what's our plan?"

Mical never liked that manalorian, but now he was feeling quite differently now that he knew he had some muscle on his side…

Adalia:

The room was tinted dark, but the music chimed away, a twinkling, gentle, sweet and very familiar sound.

Her eyes wielded around the room, looking absently at all of her toys and searching the patterns of the walls, her fingers closed around one of the wooden bars that circled her into what seemed like a cage.

She began to whimper when the gentle sounds had slowed to a stop and left the room in a still silence.

"You like our music box, don't you, darling?" The sweet voice asked as a cloaked shadow appeared from the hallway to cross the room and reach for the oak music box sitting on top of Adalia's dresser to wind the small instrument to play again.

She immediately knew that it was the beautiful woman, she wanted so badly to cling to this dream and never let it leave her, the woman's fingers danced with the rhythm of the music along the bars to stop in front of Adalia and stroke her thumb over her rosy cheek.

Adalia's hand reached forward to tangle her fingers in the woman's thick hair, her lovely, blue eyes glinted with tears as she quietly hummed along with the gentle chimes.

"I love you." She whispered brokenly then stood there for a moment, listening to Adalia gurgle and gawk meaningless noises then turned away from her, prying her small hand out of her hair.

"Don't leave! Don't leave me!" Adalia screeched even though she knew the woman wouldn't hear her.

She watched as the woman retreated, "Mumma!" Adalia watched as her outstretched hands clawed at the air.

The woman stopped and without turning said, "I don't deserve to be your mother, sweet-heart." Then disappeared around the corner.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Adalia awoke, sweating bullets, taking violent gulps of air and rubbed her face, trying to remember where she was.

She turned to see Mical laying at an awkward angle on the floor with the side of his face resting against the bed, sleeping peacefully.

"Mommy?" She asked herself, how could she have been such a fool to never make the connection between the woman and her own mother? Shouldn't she have been able to know, how could she not have known?

She pressed her hands against her face, "I'm such an idiot!" Adalia cried out quietly.

"No, you're not." She jumped and turned to see Mical, eyes opened and alert.

"Yes I am." Tears spilled down her face, "I lied! I can't understand what's going on, Mical."

Mical's first reaction was to climb onto the bed next to her and wrap his arms around the crying child, and he rocked her slowly in his arms.

He felt completely helpless, he didn't know what to say that would be soothing to her so he just held her as she cried.

Carth:

Chills ran down Cath's spine, the planet below was defiantly full of dark energy, even he could feel it.

He eyed the planet hesitantly, "you sure this is it?"

"Dweeep." T-3 nodded.

"Alright." The planet's surface looked ten times worse than Telos when it had been bombed and was only about the size of a small moon.

"I'll try to find a clear space to land then we start searching." Carth said, working his fingers over the control panels.

"Dwop-dwoooop," T-3 agreed.

"Here goes nothing." Carth sighed as the ship began to descend.

Adalia:

She could feel it flutter through her body before she saw it, it felt like the gentle flapping of a butterflies wings and as hot as Telos' sun against the surface of the planet. She could see nothing but endless light, a pure, white aura danced around her body.

"Mical?" She called out and listened as her voice echoed through the endless tunnel.

"I'm here." He assured her, his voice was much stronger and clearer than hers. "You have to give what you're doing a hundred percent of your attention."

"Okay." She concentrated on the white, smoke-like curves and swirls in front of her and tried to grasp them but only came up with empty fists of air.

"Concentrate," he encouraged her.

She could feel the air around her fists turn into a solid matter and opened her eyes in time to watch the dim light glow from her finger tips and snake itself around Mical's upper arm.

"Good, very good!" Mical praised.

She smiled, obviously pleased with herself. "Mical, what are you doing?" She questioned as he reached into his boot to pull out a small dagger.

"Adalia," he said quietly. "I want you to be prepared to heal yourself when you need to. I pray that time will never come, but I want you to be ready nonetheless."

She watched silently in horror as he lifted the dagger to his arm and grazed it along his flesh.

"Please, stop. No more," she begged and grabbed him by the wrist to prevent him from cutting himself any further. "Please, I don't want you to hurt yourself for me." Her innocent eyes widened and glinted, tears threatening to spill over again.

He dropped the dagger onto the floor in-between them then brought her hands down to hold in his, "Adalia, everything I do, I do for your benefit." He stroked her palm with his thumb. "My pain is meaningless if it is for your well-being."

Her eyes dropped to the cut on along his skin and placed her hand over it, "why do you do this for me, Mical?" Her brow furrowed as she felt the stickiness of his blood against her fingers.

He paused and searched her face for a moment. "If anything were to happen to you I would never forgive myself." He said truthfully.

She closed her eyes tightly and concentrated on healing Mical, he smiled in surprise at how quickly she had done it this time as the white glow danced along his skin.

"Very good job, Adalia," he examined his nearly healed cut then eyed her weary expression, "we should take a break, healing takes a lot of your energy."

She nodded and slumped down onto the ground to sit cross legged like him, she watched quietly as he closed his eyes and began his meditation.

"Mical." She tapped his knee.

"Yes, Adalia." He smiled, his eyes still closed.

"Thank you." He grunted as Adalia flung herself into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He hugged her back then gently kissed the side of her head, "anything for you, Adalia."

Healing was a good thing, something good people do. Mical was a living example of that, he might have believed that teaching her this was to put his mind at ease, but she saw as an opportunity to save herself from the darkness, to keep her from being a bad person.

Carth:

He pulled himself over the mountain of rubble of which he assumed used to be some sort of building and nearly tripped over a loose piece of gravel, he had told T-3 to stay behind and watch out for the Ebon Hawk and its crew, his scanners didn't indicate any other active ships on the planet.

He felt a pang of fear for not knowing where his daughter was, but there was nothing he could do about it now, they would get here sooner or later.

He had made a carless step and slid down the hill, tearing through the arm of his jacket and dawning himself a new gash on his arm. "Dammit!" He grunted when he finally made it to the bottom, bumping his head in the same spot he did days ago.

He easily ignored his injuries when he saw the grand building in front of him, he was amazed that it was still in one piece, it was gradually crumbling around the corners and blended in with the dead, dark grey surroundings.

He pulled his twin blasters from their holsters and made his way to the stone bridge that separated him from the massive stone structure in front of him, "Scarr, if you're here I'm sure you already know that I am," he thought, staring at the building. "If you're in there just give me a sign, any kind of sign."

His brow furrowed as he stood in silence for a moment, waiting… "Scarr," he said aloud and waited.

Out of no-where a small body flung into his chest at full speed, knocking him onto his backside.

The breath was knocked out of him, his blasters fell to the ground and he sat completely dumb-struck as arms wrapped around his neck and legs around his waist.

"Scarr-Scarrlet," Carth stared wide eyed at the dark haired head that nuzzled against his neck.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He felt her slender frame shaking followed by hot tears dripping down his neck.

"Scarrlet," he wrapped his arms securely around her body and buried his face in her hair.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she mumbled franticly, her fingers tangling in his hair.

He ignored the painful tugging at his head-wound and held her as close as humanly possible, her body fit so perfectly in his arms almost as if their bodies had been made to form together.

All frustration, anger, pain and fear evaporated in that moment, the moment he found his missing piece and was deemed whole again.


	9. Another Step Closer

Writer's note: Sorry, it's been a while that I have uploaded, I have had two surgeries in the past four months and will be having the third within a week, so I'm hoping that I can finish the next chapter before I have to go and have my surgery again.. Also, another apology for this chapter being a bit shorter than the rest, just deal with it! ;)

As always, reviews are highly appreciated(:

Dustil:

His head felt like it had been torn into two, he groaned quietly as his hands searched the bed for another body, but only came up with cooled sheets twisted between his fingers.

"Not again," he grumbled.

His head turned to the clock on his bed-side, twelve in the afternoon.

So much for waking up together…

"You need to be more trusting, C.J." Her high pitched voice chimed as she strode out of the refresher.

"Don't call me that, street urchin." He smiled up at the blue-faced girl with a white towel wrapped around her torso.

"Soon as you stop going on all night drinking binge's when you're pissed, you remind me too much of your dad." She crossed the room to retrieve her tank top shirt and a pair of his boxer shorts. "You know that right? It's a little hard sometimes to get the old man outta my head when you act prissy just like him."

He watched her dress, his arms folded behind his head. "S'not my fault that you had the hot's for my dad when you were off together restoring peace in the galaxy." He teased her.

She rolled her dark eyes then stuck her finger into her mouth close to her throat and made a gagging noise, "I think Scarr might have had a problem with that…" She trailed off, her dark grey eyes sparkled as her head-tails drooped.

Dustil frowned, he knew that look.

It was the same look that his father had when he would silently think about who he didn't have next to him and the very same look that his baby sister would have when she didn't even know who she was missing…

"Hey," he said quietly, snapping Mission out of her daze.

He gave her an apologetic smile and his heart shattered when she smiled back at him sadly.

He barely knew the woman that had been such a big part in the lives of those closest to him, he didn't understand what kind of connection she had weaseled into all of their heads, but he had caught himself feeling jealousy for not knowing her like they did… He hated himself for being jealous of his little sister for having a mother, his father, for having a wife and his lover for having a sister-like figure, he was jealous that he wasn't able to share in that circle of love and compassion.

He shook his head then crawled out of his bed, feeling his hang-over all the while, and wrapped his strong, muscled arms around Mission's slender waist.

"I think it's about time we tell the Admiral the truth." He whispered gently as he began to nip at her neck with light, teasing kisses.

"As soon as it floods on Tatooine." She snickered and leaned into his embrace, the two lovers had been lying to the man that they both had in their minds as an authority figure and had been drowning in guilt for the past few years.

~"Come…"~

Dustil's body stiffened, his heart raced and his mind slowed to a pause.

~"She is innocent… She is broken… They are dying…"~

"Dustil!" His body shook violently, he realized that he was on his back, lying on the cold floor, his eyes closed and Mission sitting on his knees as she shook his shoulders.

"Dying? Who's dying?" Her frantic cries filled the small room.

"T-Telos, get to Telos." Dustil willed his eyes to open, someone had touched his mind in such a strong way it had taken him aback, his half-naked body twisted against the floor in pain. The force was so strong in his mind, he couldn't handle it.

"Telos!" He repeated to the stunned girl who's mouth had been gaping open, "we need to be on Telos," he pulled himself off the ground and began to dress himself, "now!"

Mission shook her head then got up to find her duffle-bag, "I thought I left all of this crazy, jedi-mumbo-jumbo behind with Bastila…"

Mical:

You think that a man like him would have been used to the feeling and sight of death by now, but of course this decaying planet had proved that wrong.

Still silence echoed endlessly over the plains of the darkened planet, its life had been sucked out of the very core and the feeling of complete dread had hit him like a cloud of smoked spice in the back rooms of a cantina.

The ash ground beneath his feet as he followed along-side Terra who's eyes were lit up like a child's on a holiday with mountains of un-opened presents in front of her.

"Are we there yet?" Atton asked, he was defiantly edgy, the way his eyes flashed along the horizon and his hand firmly placed on his hip, next to his light-saber.

"Silence!" Terra hissed, her gaze far beyond them. "We will be there when we are meant to be…"

Mandalore scoffed behind her, he was at his wits end with the sith games she liked to play.

She had been acting like this since they had landed, almost as if she was under a spell… A spell of insanity.

Mical could have sworn that he heard her chuckle madly at the sight of the dormant, grand volcano no more than ten miles away from them. He hoped that her plans had nothing to do with that volcano…

Adalia moaned quietly in her sleep, wrapping her arms around Mical's neck.

He adjusted her weight in his arms and stroked her loose, knotted hair, wishing that Terra had given him time to let the small girl shower, but settled for helping her into one of Mira's shirts and a pair of leggings that made her look like she was playing dress up in the grown-up's clothing.

He watched as Terra force sprinted ahead of him, Atton right on her heels.

"Here," Mandalore slung his machine gun over his shoulder, letting it hang against his back. "The kid's slowing you down." He held his extended hands out to him. "Let someone more… 'Capable' haul 'er."

Mical shook his head, "No!"

Mandalore stared at him, his helmet hiding his face, but he spotted Mira's arched eye brow as she walked along side of the large mandalorian.

Mical cleared his throat, "I-I've got her. I can carry her…"

Mandalore shook his head and leaned over to whisper something to Mira and by the looks of her snicker, the comment wasn't very complimentary.

Mical slowed to fall behind the others until it was just him and Adalia left behind on the trail of ash and decaying plants.

"If only we could run…" His hands were gently holding her sleeping form to him.

He could do it, he could take her away from this all. He wanted so desperately to flee this planet, Adalia safely at his side.

"What the hell could you do? Be her father? She already has that." A dark voice mocked him in the back of his mind.

Although he hated to admit it, the voice made sense, there was no reason for his feelings towards this little girl he felt like he had known all his life. He had no place at her side, he had absolutely no place at all in her life.

"You are nothing to her, you belong to no one…" Pain seared through his chest, he could not be hers no matter how badly he wished he could.

"You are sad." Her small voice stated.

"I didn't realize that you were awake, young one." He gave her a small smile.

She pulled back in his arms to look at his face, her expression gentle and caring.

"You're sad, Mical. Why do you worry?" Her fingers curled to hold onto the collar of his shirt.

He chuckled quietly at her, "the only thing I worry for is your well-being, my dear…"

She nodded silently, then looked down at her hands to whisper quietly. "Something bad is going to happen, isn't it?"

Mical couldn't speak, he bit down on his lower lip to keep a lie from escaping his mouth.

"I'm ready." He looked at her in shock, she didn't show any fear, no sadness only the blank look that would make any jedi jealous of her mask of peace.

"Adalia, I-"

"Taking a detour?" Mical jumped when Terra appeared in front of them, her chest rising and falling in a rush as she caught her breath.

"No, we were just taking a break." Mical said, trying to keep the disgust out of his tone.

Terra's dark eyes studied them silently, an amused smile curving her full lips slightly. After a moment of silence she held her arms out to Mical.

"Give her to me."

His heart nearly dropped to his stomach, his hands held the small girl closer to his body. "I've got her, I can manage-"

"Now." Terra barked at him, her brows furrowing.

There is no emotion.. Mical told himself as he handed Adalia to Terra.

"Let's go." She said blankly and turned to force run ahead, Adalia's beautiful face was filled with terror as she peered back at him over Terra's shoulder.

There is no peace either.. He followed closely, his knuckles popping in protest at the pressure of him balling his fists, keeping his hands from snatching Adalia back from the woman's arms.

Carth:

She was calm, despite the situation.

Her hair had grown out, it was nearly to her thin waist as it hung loosely around her body. He couldn't help but grab a fist-full of it as he held her.

She was definitely smaller, he didn't think it was possible, but her frame had shrunk.

He hugged her ribs tightly, feeling her boney self beneath her robes, her head was tucked under his chin, she was always just the perfect height that their bodies fit together in so many ways.

"I-I don't know what to say." Carth gasped, he didn't realize that he was crying until a sob caught in his throat.

He felt her frame shake again, she pulled her head back, her eyes were brighter, as blue as the sea's on Mannon.

A small smile tugged at her red lips, "that isn't new."

He couldn't help but laugh, he felt like he was dreaming, he felt like nothing else mattered in that moment as they stood in the middle of the grand room of the building that she had claimed was safe for them to stay in.

His eyes widened and his face went white, "Adalia." He choked out, his terror echoing through the room.

Sadness entered Scarrlet's face. "I know, Carth. I know."

"She- she's alright? Where are-" Scarrlet placed a finger against his lips.

"There isn't much time. They will be here soon and all will be done that is meant for the galaxy." Her voice was detached from her emotions, as usual.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Carth's eyes darkened as he bent his head down for his nose to touch hers.

"I will tell you, Carth." She whispered quietly, "you will know everything, I promise you will get all of your questions answered." Their bodies stiffened at the alarming sound of the metallic entrance of the building being opened.

She leaned forward to kiss him full on the lips for a brief moment then pulled back, her hand intertwining with his.

"When the time is right…"


	10. The Force Storm

Adalia:

"You make a sound and it will be your last." Terra hissed at the child clinging to her hip.

She nodded silently even though she could feel Mical's anger begin to bubble at her words, she knew that Terra could kill her and lose no sleep over it, so she did as she was told.

"It feels so dark in here…" Atton muttered from beside them as they passed through the hallway, "But there seems to be a disturbance, like someone has tainted its dark power."

"Not important," Terra snarled and continued down the hallway to stop at a grand, marble staircase.

They were all silent for a moment, Adalia could feel the thoughts whizzing past her head as Terra spun them into the group's minds. Adalia felt a complete moment of terror when she remembered Terra's words from a few days before, "Slit her little mistake's throat…"

She swallowed hard, if this was what was supposed to happen, she would suffer through it if it meant that her family would be okay…

Atton gave an agreeing nod to Terra, "we're ready, Master."

"Then let's go," she ignored Mandalore's annoyed grunt and ascended up the staircase.

Dustil:

Pain, so much pain… Can't help her, have to save her…

"Dustil, you're scaring me!" Mission yelled at him as his eyes were rolled into the back of his head, his body jerking violently as he sat on the transportation unit's bench.

"Something bad is about to happen," Jolee's deep voice whispered as he sat across from them with his eyes closed, he had shown up at Mission's home on Kashyyyk soon after Dustil had his episode and insisted to come along with them. "I can't feel Carth or Adalia here on Telos, there is so much distress left behind…"

"Will one of you stop with the jedi mystical crap, I don't know what the hell either of you are saying!" Mission snapped then grabbed Dustil firmly by the shoulders to keep him in his seat.

"I know they're not here," Dustil muttered, completely ignoring Mission, "but they will be, and we need to be here when they do get back."

"Mr. Onasi," their heads all turned to the small group of TSF officers that opened the shuttle's doors. "We think that we need your help, something terrible has happened to the Admiral." The petite male in the front of the group said worriedly.

"Then let's get to work…"

Adalia:

The couple that stood no more than twenty feet in front of her looked like a fairy tale, they were both so beautiful and perfect that it should have been a crime that they were not smiling.

She sighed in relief to see that her father was alive, but her attention was on the woman that held her father's hand.

She wasn't very tall, she looked like a child standing next to Carth. But her beauty was breathtaking, her raven black hair flowed down her back and rested over her shoulders.

But the thing that made Adalia shiver was the woman's piercingly bright, blue eyes…

She barely noticed the screaming pain in her thigh from Terra's nails digging into her supple flesh.

"Mommy." Adalia whimpered quietly, she couldn't contain the small, hopeful smile on her lips at the sight of her mother.

"I told you to be silent, you brat!" Terra hissed and held the child's jaw firmly in her hand, tearing her gaze away from her parents.

It had begun.

Anger boiled from either side of the grand room, but the fury that Scarrlet was masking was showing on Carth's face.

"Get your sith-slimed hands off of my daughter, you god-damn bitch!" The Admiral yelled at the top of his lungs, his hands diving for his blasters.

Everyone besides Terra and Scarrlet armed themselves, prepared to fight, defend and murder…

"Carth," Scarrlet gasped then calmed herself, pressing her hand against Carth's chest to stop him from pointing his blasters at Terra's head.

Scarrlet cleared her throat then held her palms out to Terra, "I do not want there to be unnecessary blood-shed," peace immediately covered the room, shoulders slumped and light-sabers were turned off. "I only want a peaceful resolution from this encounter, Terra. Now please," she couldn't keep the essence of longing out of her clear, blue eyes as she looked at Adalia, "give me my daughter so we can move on. So we can help you."

Adalia felt pride in that moment, her mother was so strong in the force, she was so brave, so loyal… She knew in that moment that she wanted to be like her, to be a good person just like her mother.

A deep throated cackle shook Adalia to her core, "You really think that peace is my goal here, Revan?"

"Terra, please," Scarrlet said firmly, "you have been deceived! This is not what is meant for the universe," her hands gestured to the room around them, "this is not how it was meant to be, this was a mistake, a mistake made by someone who feels nothing but regret for what she has done."

Adalia could see clear shock on her father's face, but he kept himself silent.

"I know your past, Revan. Kreia has told me everything." Terra said darkly, Adalia was lost, she had no idea what they were talking about anymore.

All she wanted in that moment was to run to her mother, to be held by her and have all of her questions answered.

"Lord Traya is the source of your pain, Terra. She is the most deceiving, twisted sith of them all, who has made you believe what is not true." Scarrlet tried to convince her.

"Terra," Atton whispered quietly, his hands were shaking as he lowered his sabers toward his belt.

"Believe in me, Atton." Her voice had melted to a sweet sounding person's, but Adalia couldn't be more afraid of her in that moment as Terra dropped Adalia to her feet in front of her and held her close to her stomach, her fingers clawing into her shoulder.

"This is the only way for us to remain in command," she whispered, Adalia heard the sound of a light-saber turning on and flinched when she felt the intense heat from the orange saber no more than three inches away from her slender neck.

A strangled terrified scream burst from her throat, as she held back tears.

"Terra, listen to her, dammit!" Mical had broken free from Terra's will and stepped towards her, his hand on his saber.

"Get back, traitor." Atton snarled and Mical was thrown forward towards Carth and Scarrlet, his body spiraling through the air.

"Mical!" Adalia cried as he landed on his knees with a grunt.

He caught himself and dropped to a defending stance as he stood in-between the two groups, "the dark side has consumed your judgment!" He continued, not giving in, "do not let it consume the rest of you." His eyes were fixed on Terra's.

"I knew that I should have shoved you out of the garbage chute during hyper drive." Terra snarled, her grip tightening on Adalia's shirt. "You won't be hard to get out of the way though-"

"Terra, this is messed up." Mira spoke up, she walked past them to stand next to Mical. "You're not the woman I want to follow anymore, you've destroyed so many of our own… I just know that I'll eventually be next."

Her dark eyes narrowed at Terra, "What you did to Bao-Dur, to Viasis…" Her voice cracked, her brows furrowing, "It's just unforgivable."

"Fine, I don't care!" Terra yelled, "I don't need you."

Adalia heard the sound of guns being cocked behind them, Atton and Terra flinched.

"My loyalty is and always will be to Revan," Canderous scoffed, aiming his machine gun at Terra's back.

"Threat: I do believe that you should listen to my master, meat-bags." HK-47 growled at them, his assassin pistols pointed at Atton.

"I don't need you, I don't need any of you!" Terra screamed, her saber inching closer to Adalia's neck.

Weapons were back out now, "I don't need any of you." Terra repeated and pressed her saber closer to Adalia, cutting away some of the dark hair that was between the saber and Adalia's skin.

"Mommy!" Adalia screamed loudly, pushing out with the force to knock the saber out of Terra's hand.

There was split second of freedom from Terra's clutches and Adalia took advantage of it, she ran, she ran as fast as her short legs would carry her.

The fighting immediately began when Terra retrieved her light-saber, Atton: plunging forward to take out Mical and Mira, Terra: blocking the on-coming bullets from Hk-47, Canderous and Carth.

Adalia didn't care anymore what was happening around her, she felt like she was in one of her dreams again as she ran to her mother and as she ran for her.

"Adalia," Scarrlet whispered, holding her arms out for Adalia.

They were so close, but their moment of ruination was interrupted by a searing pain scorching into Adalia's back, all she could see what bright, white nothingness. Her legs gave out and she collapsed onto the floor for Scarrlet to finally reach her and hold her limp body.

"ADALIA!" Her mother's scream pierced through the room, and was the last thing Adalia heard. 

Carth:

"Mommy!" The orange saber flew out of Terra's hands, it was time to attack.

Carth focused on distracting Terra enough that she wouldn't have time to go after Adalia again, and he could tell that was what the others had in mind too.

He looked for Scarrlet and he realized that she was in the middle of the battle field, running for their daughter, so he did all he could to make sure Terra couldn't lay a finger on either of them.

"Watch it!" Carth yelled to Canderous and HK-47 as he threw a stasis grenade at Terra, which she easily split in two with her saber.

"ADALIA!" The horrified scream silenced them all, Carth looked down to see Scarrlet huddled over Adalia, she wasn't moving.

He looked up, Atton Rand had caught his returning light-saber, his face was completely expressionless as he stared at the small girl he had just possibly murdered.

"You bastard!" Carth yelled at him and ran to stand in front of Scarrlet and Adalia. "You son-of-a-bitch, how dare you!" He shot at him rapidly only for the man to block the bullets with his saber.

Mical:

"You son-of-a-bitch, how dare you!" It took a moment for Mical to realize what had happened.

"Adalia?" He gasped, she was lying on the floor motionless, Scarrlet covering her small torso and face with her own body.

There was no jedi, let alone sith alive that could ever have been as mad as he was in that moment as he force ran his way to Atton.

His anger was boiling to his flesh as his fist came up to punch Atton square on the jaw, all jedi lessons, techniques and forms were forgotten as he savagely attacked Atton.

He had caught him by surprise, their sabers falling to the floor as they began to fight like the young men that they were, fists being thrown, faces being smashed against the marble floor and ribs being cracked.

Mical had his knee on Atton's back and his hands captured his wrists, bending his arms backwards waiting for a snap.

"Let's haul ass!" Mandalore yelled, Mical looked up to see that he wouldn't want to argue with his suggestion…

Carth:

"Carth, take her…" Her whisper was so quiet that he barely heard her.

His body went numb when he felt his wife slide their daughter's cold, limp body into his arms, she never looked more fragile. Her face was so pale that Carth would have believed she was dead if it weren't for the gentle beat of her heart against his palm…

"Scarrlet, her back!" Carth gasped, his eyes widened.

Her clothing was torn diagonally from her left shoulder down to her right hip, and there was blood, lots of blood.

"Leave, now." There was a sudden shift of electricity through the room, the hair on the back of Carth's neck stood up as the ground beneath his feet began to shake.

"Scarrlet," Carth gasped, he looked up to see that her feet were no longer touching the ground and her eyes had rolled into the back of her head, she raised her hand towards Terra and Atton.

She had never looked stronger, her power had grown immensely over the few years they were apart. She didn't look like Scarrlet anymore, her body was a vessel to the forces' will…

"Now!" She yelled to him, her voice was filled with multiple whispering voices that he couldn't pick any out as her own.

The others took notice to the change as well…

"Let's haul ass!" He heard Canderous yell from across the room.

Carth looked around to see Canderous, Mira and Hk run for the exit, Mical had Atton pinned to the ground and if it were a better time, he would have ran over to give the bastard a kick in the gut as well.

Terra was unshaken all the while, she had a wicked, soulless grin plastered to her face, her light-saber twirling between her hands then called out. "It's about time things started getting good, Rev!"

Carth was about to pull out his blasters again until he felt a hand on his back, "Carth, our daughter needs you." Her voice was gentle, he looked down at their baby girl and whispered quietly.

"I'll be back," he ran for the door that they came in and found Mical right on his heels as he retreated.

"She will be alright," Mical said to him confidently as they made their way down the stair-case.

There was a loud thud that sounded like a mountain caving in, Scarrlet had blocked the exit to the room, keeping the two sith from escaping.

Carth stopped in his tracks.

"What are you doing, we have to get Adalia out of here!" Mical yelled, his hands reaching for the small girl.

Carth was about to question his concern for his daughter until he heard the unmistakable sound of light-saber battle. "I can't leave her, I won't lose her again!" Carth yelled back to him, the stair-case began to crumble beneath them.

Mical grabbed onto Carth's wrist, "If you go back in there, you will die." Mical tried to pull him closer to the exit.

"I won't lose her again!" Carth repeated, and put Adalia into Mical's arms, he leaned down to kiss his daughter's cheek. "We'll be back," then looked up at Mical, "get to the Hawk, we'll be along shortly."

He ran down the hall towards the sound of battle, leaving Adalia and Mical alone to escape the crumbling building.

Scarrlet:

As soon as the last of them retreated the room, she pushed out with the force to make the large pillar by the entrance crumble and collapse in front of the door.

They will live, they will be safe…

Adalia flooded into her mind, her daughter had been broken, but she could never feel more whole as she held her baby in her arms again, so small, so beautiful… So much like her father, the man she loved.

"There is no turning back now." Scarrlet said calmly.

Terra helped Atton off of the floor from where Mical had left him, "not giving up so easily, Revan!" She sneered at her, her dark eyes echoing all of her thoughts and feeling, Scarrlet could see right through her.

She was dead on the inside, Lord Treya had consumed her will and turned her into a vessel of the dark side. She was good at that.

"I know you won't," she smiled at her sadly and let the force leave her finger tips, and flood through the room, letting it do as it pleased to destroy the darkness inside.

Adalia:

The air whipped at her face and stung the bared flesh of her back, she felt as if her body would finally cave in and die, but she knew that she had to hold on.

"Adalia, we're almost there, just keep fighting. You're going to be okay." Mical's voice was full of distress and fear, but she couldn't understand what he was afraid of.

Her pain was slowly leaving her body along with every other sense of the place around her, all she saw was the bright light, a bright light that welcomed her with opened arms.

Mical:

She had to be okay, he couldn't continue if Adalia's life were to end.

She still wasn't responding to the kolto-shock treatment, her body was still as her dark brown eyes stared up at the ceiling vacantly.

"You're okay, you're okay." Mical repeated to himself over and over again as his hands worked over her frantically.

"Her heart…" Mira whispered quietly as she stood in the door-way, giving Mical room.

"I know," he barked at her not looking up, her heart had gone silent for almost a minute now.

"She's alright, she'll be okay," he choked out, his nose was broken and he had a dislocated elbow, but none of that mattered.

"That's not going to work, Mical. She's too far gone now." Mira said quietly as Mical pumped his palms over Adalia's heart, forcing a pulse back into her small body while using his force healing abilities along with the CPR.

"Shut up, leave us!" Mical yelled at Mira, continuing the steady rhythm.

"You're okay, Adalia." He thought to her as he put his mouth over hers and filled her lungs with air.

"You have to be okay, Adalia, please. Please, you're going to be okay." His hands continued to work over her, pushing his healing abilities as far as they could go.

Carth:

The thermal detonator went off with a thunderous bang and the marble crumbled away from the entrance.

He clawed his way over the fallen debris to find the room in front of him in the heat of battle, there was no notice taken to him as Terra and Atton's bodies flung through the air to attack Scarrlet.

Carth stared in awe at his wife, she was sitting cross legged, hovering over the middle of the crumbling floor in a position that looked like battle meditation as an invisible force flung large chunks of marble and stone at her opponents.

He stood out of the way and watched as the battle continued, he knew that Scarrlet didn't need him, but he knew that he couldn't take the chance of losing her again.

His eyes fell to his hands, they were covered in blood, Adalia's blood.

Guilt ate at him for not being with his daughter, but somehow he had a feeling that she was alright.

Mical:

"It's been five minutes, Disciple." Mira stated blankly.

Mical ignored her as he covered Adalia's mouth with his to fill her lungs with air again, he forced another kolto-shock treatment into her leg, still no response.

"Breath, dammit!" He begged looking into her blank eyes.

Her body remained motionless, she had lost too much blood...

Carth:

"No!" Terra screamed as she dropped to catch Atton before his head could smack against the floor, he had taken a deadly blow and Carth had to keep himself from cheering at the sight of Scarrlet nearly crushing the man who attacked his daughter with a fallen pillar.

"You killed him, you killed him!" Terra screamed at Scarrlet, she cradled the man's body against her chest.

Carth could tell by just looking at her that she had been dead inside for a long time, she just needed a little push to end her completely, but Scarrlet didn't attack her.

Instead she stopped completely, the building had stopped shaking and Scarrlet stood to walk over to Terra.

Carth stared wide eyed, it wasn't Scarrlet, she had transformed into a different person, her hair had turned to a glowing silver color, her face was covered with dry, ugly scars.

He was looking at Darth Revan.

"Scarrlet!" Carth yelled, but there was still no notice taken to him.

"You have been following down my path, but you could never follow me truthfully when your will isn't really your own." Revan said, her voice was filled with many different echo's, none of the voices Scarrlet's.

"I'm stronger than you!" Terra screeched, her blood covered face looked like an upset child's who refused to listen.

A smile decorated Revan's face, and she leaned down to pick Terra up by her throat and hold her above the ground.

"Strength was once yours, but now it is dead to you." There was no resistance in Terra as she hung in the air, Revan frowned then stared blankly at her. "Just like how I will soon be dead."

Without the slightest hesitation there was a sudden charge in the room that centered at Revan and Terra, a strangled scream erupted from Terra's throat.

Everything was engulfed by a bright, blinding light, Carth fell to his knees to cover his head and waited for the outcome of this force storm.


End file.
